Growing Pains
by LayKay
Summary: Based on some tumblr posts, Kate and Rick's oldest daughter hits a rough patch and gets herself into some trouble. The story of Johanna Nicole Castle.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: their kids came from my imagination, everything else is Marlowe and Co's.

AN: I haven't written in months but the other day I somehow started a thing about Rick and Kate's rebellious daughter on tumblr and received a few messages asking me to write a fic about her and I ended up writing this thing.

AN2: for anyone still wondering when the stories I was working on will be updated (if anyone is). Honestly, they probably won't be. I deleted one of them and I haven't written anything for the other in so long I honestly forgot where I was planning to go with it. So. Here's this thing now.

* * *

When Kate had given birth to their eldest daughter sixteen years earlier, Rick never would have thought he'd end up in the headmaster's office at her high school at noon on a Tuesday, being told his daughter was being expelled.

Kate had gotten to the school late, the meeting with the headmaster had already ended and Rick had the teenager by the arm as he dragged her to the car. "What happened?" Kate asked when she met them in the parking lot.

"She got expelled," he said, opening the backdoor, not looking at his daughter as she got into the car.

"Expel- Jo, how did you get expelled? School just started three weeks ago."

Instead of answering her mother, Jo closed the car door. Kate sighed, crossing her arms as she looked at her husband. She often wondered where they'd gone wrong in raising Johanna. Their other three children were all well behaved and getting good grades, all somehow taking after Alexis.

Kate knew exactly where Jo's wild child streak came from. She was, after all, her daughter. She shuddered at the thought of her youngest, her sweet little Sara who insisted Rick dress up like a princess for her impromptu tea parties, growing up and flunking out of school.

She looked back at the child in the backseat of the car. It was a Mercedes, not her cruiser, but she couldn't help thinking how much Johanna looked like a prisoner. Her body folded over, looking out the window on the other side of the car.

* * *

"Neither of you ever told me what happened," Kate said, standing with her arms crossed in Johanna's bedroom.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Jo told her, laying down on her bed.

"Well, that's too bad. I do."

"Marlowe Academy has a zero tolerance policy for fighting," Rick said.

"Fighting? Johanna Nicole, you know better than that."

"That bitch had it coming."

"Hey! Don't use that language in this house," Kate told her. "Your brothers and sister are right down the hall."

Johanna rolled her eyes.

"Ok, what did this other girl do to you?" Kate asked her, trying to calm her voice.

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Well, that's too bad," Rick said. "We're talking about it."

"Just tell us what happened," Kate said. "It's the only way we'll be able to help."

"You guys have really helped enough."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"I told you, I don't want to talk." Jo picked up the television remote from her bedside table and turned the TV on.

Rick walked over to the wall the set was on and pulled the plug out of the wall. "You're grounded. No TV, no computer except for school work. For two months."

"You know I can just plug the TV back in when you leave."

Rick pursed his lips at his daughter's backtalk and grabbed a pair of scissors on her dresser, cutting the power cord of the television. "Try plugging it back in now."

He left the room with a victorious smile, Kate followed him and closed the bedroom door as she stepped into the hallway. "You know in two months we'll have to buy her a new TV, right?"

"Don't ruin my moment."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: the kids are mine. Nothing else though

* * *

"_Be nice to the new baby, Jojo."_

Rick smiled at the television screen, watching a nearly 13 year old DVD. Johanna was three years old, Kate was laying in a hospital bed cradling their newborn son.

"_Johanna, this is Ricky," Kate said as the toddler left her father's arms and crawled across the bed toward her mother and new brother. _

"_Bay Icky?" she asked, pointing to the baby._

_Kate smiled and nodded. "Baby Ricky."_

_Johanna crawled closer to Ricky and Kate. "Gentle, Jojo," Rick warned as Johanna kissed her baby brother's forehead._

Rick jumped when he felt Kate's arms come around his shoulders. "When are you coming to bed?" she asked, kissing his cheek softly.

He inhaled deeply, not taking his eyes away from the screen. "I still have thirteen years of birthdays and Christmases to get through."

"You have to get through them all tonight?"

"I'm just wondering what happened to my baby girl. Where did we go wrong with her?"

"We didn't do anything wrong. She's just… sixteen. It's a tough age, for any girl. For a boy, even. I remember stories about you being quiet the handful at that age."

"But Alexis was perfect. I thought maybe rebellion skipped a generation."

"Alexis was a miracle," Kate told him, walking around the couch to sit next to him. "You got lucky." She curled her legs underneath her, draping one arm across his stomach and leaning her head against his shoulder. "We got lucky. Look at our family, look at the life we built. We have four beautiful children together. Everyone's healthy and remotely happy. All in all, I'd say we did pretty good."

"I just want Johanna to have every opportunity open to her, so she can do whatever she wants."

"And she does, she can. You've provided everything she could ever want or need."

"But if she doesn't graduate high school…"

"Who said anything about her not graduating? I remember you bragging about getting kicked out of every prep school in the city, you still graduated."

"I don't want her going to one of those short skirt and knee sock schools. Marlowe at least gave the girls options to wear khakis."

Kate smirked. "Nice double standard. There's also public school."

"Public school?" he said with a sneer.

"Hey." She swatted him in the chest. "There's nothing wrong with public school and Beacon High is a great school."

"Yeah, what we need is to make her more like you," he teased.

"I turned out good."

"Well, except for your questionable grammar." She hit him in the chest again, he laughed. "At least now we know where Jo gets this hitting thing from."

* * *

"Who did you kill?"

Jo looked up from a book she was reading, sprawled on her bed as her brother, Ricky walked into her bedroom. The corner of his mouth was pulled into a grin, one of the many traits he'd inherited from their father, but he was the only one of the four children without his blue eyes.

"I didn't kill anybody, moron."

"I heard Mom and Dad talking," he told her, pulling out her computer chair to sit in. "You got kicked out of school."

She shrugged. "Green's not really my color," she said, looking at her brother, dressed in his dark green polo shirt and khakis from Marlowe Academy.

"So you're not gonna tell me?"

"Why would I?"

Ricky shrugged. "Holding things in will give you an ulcer."

Jo rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. "You sound like Aunt Lanie." She looked at her ceiling but Ricky didn't move. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

The younger teen shook his head with a quick shrug. "I just want to know what happened. You broke that Maria chick's nose."

"Good." Ricky couldn't help laughing at Jo's quick reaction. She sighed and sat up to face her brother. "Look, you can't tell Mom or Dad, ok?"

"Was it about that Caleb guy you wrote about in your diary?"

"When did you read my diary?"

He smirked again. "Tell me what happened at school and I won't tell Mom and Dad about page 56."

"Jesus. Fine. Someone at the 12th put her dad in jail for cheating on his taxes or something."

Ricky blinked. "So… you hit her?"

"She was gonna… take it out on Mom. She put her dad in jail, I heard her threatening to kill her."

"What does Mom even have to do with tax evaders?"

Jo shrugged. "She's captain. Apparently that makes everything that goes on in the precinct is her fault."

"Should we be worried?"

"We should always be worried about Mom. Not in this case though."

* * *

AN: for anyone wondering what Jo, Ricky and the other kids (who will be introduced in the next couple chapters), here's a post on my tumblr with actors I would have play them: beckettsbitchface{dot}tumblr{dotcom}/post/60357217 880/for-anyone-wondering-here-are-rick-and-kates


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: kids… blah, blah

* * *

"Boys, get up. Time for school," Rick said, pounding on his sons' bedroom door. Their youngest child, Sara, clung to his back, her arms around his neck.

He waited until he heard a thump, Ricky jumping from the top bunk, until he moved to the next room. "Jo, you too. Get up."

He walked toward the stairs, swinging the six year old on his back around and putting her on the ground. "You have to walk now, monkey. Daddy's getting too old for this," he told her with a groan as they walked down stairs.

The little girl took the stairs two at a time, while Rick moved slowly behind her. They'd moved into a large townhouse on the Upper East Side after Ricky was born, to make room for their growing family.

It wasn't until their second son, Luke, was learning to walk that the stairs became a problem. Years of playing cop then baby wrangling proved to be trouble for his aging joints, he'd begun developing arthritis in both his knees.

"Mommy!" Sara said happily as she ran into the kitchen, where Kate was preparing breakfast. Rick rounded the corned in time to watch Kate effortlessly scoop the girl up into a tight hug.

"Thanks for making me feel old," he grunted as she put their daughter down.

"Oh, I'm sorry, baby." She walked over to him, sliding her hands up his chest to wrap around his neck. "I can make you feel young again." She kissed him as a stampede of feet rushed down the stairs.

"Ew, children in the room," Jo said, breaking her parents apart.

"How do you think you got here?" Rick said with a smile, his arms still around Kate, making Jo cringe.

The three older Castle children sat down around the large island while Kate lifted Sara onto a stool. Ricky and Luke were already dressed in their school uniforms while Jo was in an oversized t-shirt and pajama bottoms.

"Why aren't you dressed?" Kate asked.

Jo shrugged. "Where am I going?"

Kate opened her mouth to answer her then heard shoving and a soft thump. "Ricky," she said in a scolding tone without looking at her son.

"Don't push your brother," Rick said. The boy shrugged as Rick helped the ten year old off the floor.

"One morning, boys," Kate said as she laid out plates of eggs for the kids. "Can we get through one morning without you two killing each other?"

"Sorry, Mom," they both said.

"Boys will be boys," Rick whispered, kissing Kate softly on the temple.

Kate grinned, turning toward her husband. "I gotta go. " She kissed him quickly on the lips then kissed the top of Sara's head. She was the only child who would still allow her to kiss them goodbye, so she was surprised when Ricky slide off his stool and hugged her.

"What's wrong, bud?" she asked, rubbing his back.

"Just… be careful, alright?"

Kate smiled down at him and kissed his forehead quickly. "Always. I'll see you tonight, hmm?" She blew a kiss to Rick quickly before leaving the house.

"Subtle," Jo mumbled as Ricky put his plate into the sink.

The boys both grabbed their backpacks while Rick helped Sara put hers on as a car horn honked outside. "Ok, the car's waiting. Get a move on. And watch your sister," he said as the boys raced each other out of the house, Sara's tiny legs running after them.

"Can I go back to bed?" Jo asked. "Since, you know, I don't have to go to school."

Rick laughed. "Yeah, no. We have to talk." He pointed into the living room, following the girl to the couch. "This isn't a vacation, Jo. This is a punishment and you will be going back to school on Monday. Your mother and I enrolled you in Beacon High School."

"Beacon? Isn't that like an hour away?"

He nodded. "You'd be surprised how hard it is to get a school to accept someone who sent a person to the hospital, even with a 3.8 GPA."

"She was only in the ER for like an hour."

"Last I checked, the ER was in the hospital. Speaking of, you still never told me exactly what happened."

She inhaled deeply, pulling her knees to her chest. "Do you remember that time she was running late, right after she got promoted to captain? You tucked Sara in and the boys went to sleep, you and me stayed up and waited for her."

He nodded. He vividly remembered every time Kate worked late. She was normally good about calling and checking in, letting Rick and the kids know to not wait up for her but there were nights when she'd gotten so caught up in a case that she'd forgotten to call and sometimes she'd fall asleep in her office in the middle of paper work.

She'd gotten promoted about a year earlier. Gates retired from the force when her husband had gotten sick and, though she considered turning the job down when the offer came but finally accepted it. She'd grown up in the 12th, she couldn't take the thought of handing it over to someone else, someone who didn't love the people as much as she did. She insisted the job was safer, that she wasn't in as much risk but he still worried everyday.

"It's one thing I'll never get used to," he told her.

"I remember waking up on the couch at like two in the morning, you were looking out the window. Without even looking at me, you told me to go to bed. The next morning I came downstairs and Mom was there, making breakfast for us like usual. Like nothing happened. Nothing did happen, she just got caught up but I don't think I'll forget that night. I didn't know if she was ever coming home. Every time I hear on the news that a cop got shot or something, I wonder if it's Mom or Uncle Javi or Uncle Kevin."

"I know how you feel. What does this have to do with what happened at school?"

"It was just a reaction… I didn't even think about what I was doing," she told him before begging the story of what happened.

* * *

AN: you guys all know what happened in school, the next chapter will pick up with Rick's reaction (and Kate too). This was chapter was more to introduce the other kids and get a little look at their family.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: the thing with the kids and the... yeah

* * *

"Johanna, you can't just hit people. I don't care what the reason is," Kate said, pinching the bridge of her nose. When she'd gotten home, Rick and Jo were both waiting for her in the living room and told her what happened the day she'd gotten kicked out of school.

"Come on, Kate…"

"No," she cut her husband off. She was disappointed, though not surprised, that Rick took what happened with a grain of salt. He even seemed to find it a little funny. "There is no good reason. Honestly, Jo. This is a 16-year-old girl we're talking about. Do you really think she could hurt me? She wouldn't even be able to get near me."

"She could have sent someone," Jo retorted.

"What teenager is that well connected?"

"I am," Jo said with a shrug. "I mean, I can use one of your guns. And I have Uncle Javi and Uncle Kevin."

"Neither of them would commit a crime for you. And how would you get my gun out of the safe?"

"The combination is the day your mom died," Jo told her. "I've known since I was like fourteen."

Kate sighed and shook her head then leaned towards Jo. "Look, you know your father and I will do anything to keep you safe. If it ever came to it, we'd kill for you. I'm glad you're looking out for me and this family but hurting another person because of some vague threat isn't the way we solve things."

"Mom, I didn't think…"

"Clearly. I know you were worried but you have to remember, someone your age most likely wouldn't be able to get to me, but they can get to you. They can hurt you, worse than you hurt that other girl and that would do more damage to me than any gun could do."

* * *

"Are you coming to bed?" Rick asked, standing at the entrance of Kate's walk-in closet. She was in the corner, fiddling with her gun safe.

"As soon as I change the combination."

"You're paranoid. Come on."

She held up one finger as she decided on a new combination then she stood once it was set. "What if she told the boys or Sara the combination? They could hurt themselves."

He put his arm around her as they walked to their bed, rubbing her back softly. "I know." He settled into the bed and waited for Kate to join him. "Aren't you just a little bit proud of her?"

She sighed. "She broke someone's nose. And the law. I'm a cop, I can't be proud of her."

He smiled as she got into bed next to him. "But you are. Not as a cop, but as her mother."

"I am not proud that my daughter thinks the way to solve a problem is by hurting someone. She's the oldest, she has to set examples for the other kids. We have to set boundaries, there has to be rules."

He frowned. "This is a little unfair to Jo. She never asked to be born first."

Kate rolled her eyes. "We can't just ignore when the kids do something wrong because it could have been worse. If we let Jo off the hook, what's keeping Ricky from getting in fights? Or Luke or Sara? And what about when Ricky learns to drive and hits a pole, are we gonna ignore it because he didn't run someone over?"

"Why do you think Ricky's gonna hit a pole?"

She raised one eyebrow.

"Yeah, you're right. He would drive into a pole."

"But between you and me, if I could unground Jo I would."

* * *

AN: short chapter is short. Sorry. I don't have an excuse it just is


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: me no own

* * *

"Jo, I need to use the bathroom," Ricky said, pounding on the door of the bathroom the kids shared.

"Whoa, what's going on?" Rick asked as his son continued pounding on the door.

"Jo's been in the bathroom for a hour. I need to take a shower."

Rick's eyebrow's furrowed. "You spend two minutes in the shower. Don't worry. She'll be out in plenty of time."

The boy's shoulders dropped. "But there's this girl in my science class…"

Rick nodded, holding his hand up. "You can use mine and your mother's bathroom." He smiled, watching Ricky run to the master bedroom. "Jo, there are other people in this house," he said loud enough to his daughter to hear.

"There are two other bathrooms. Pick one!"

Rick rolled his eyes and went downstairs, where Kate starting the kids' breakfast. "Your daughter's been in the bathroom for over an hour," he told her.

"Oh, now she's just my daughter?"

"When she makes Ricky wake me up pounding on the door and screaming at her, yes. She is your daughter."

"Sorry we can't all sleep until 10am, honey. She's probably just nervous about her first day at her new school."

"This is why I like private schools. You don't need to pick outfits or put effort into getting ready. Ten minutes in the shower, dry your hair, put on your uniform and go."

"Sorry to break it to you, but our daughter is a teenager. Why was Ricky so desperate to get into the bathroom anyway? Last I heard, him and his friends were having a stink-off."

Rick smiled proudly. "There's a girl."

"A girl? Oh, no. No, no, no. He is not dating. Not yet."

"What? He's thirteen, he's old enough to date."

"How old was Alexis when you let her go on her first date?"

"Sixteen… I mean… fourteen… twelve? She was twelve."

"Uh huh. I remember you and that boy from the summer she spent in Europe, and Owen, don't get me started on Ashley. You would have been perfectly happy to put her into a convent. And Jo hasn't even had a boyfriend yet."

"But Ricky's a boy." He closed his eyes, wincing internally as soon as the words left his mouth.

Kate turned to him, one eyebrow raised. He automatically ducked his head when her green eyes glinted. "So because Ricky's a boy he should be able to date sooner than his sisters?"

"I didn't… if Jo wanted to date, I would…"

"You would answer the door with a shotgun when he came to take her on a date."

"Ok, I don't want Johanna to grow up too fast. So what?"

"So, by your standards boys should be able to date when they're thirteen but girls shouldn't be able to until they're retirement age."

"Not retirement, seventeen. And not all girls, just my daughters."

She smiled. "You know every girl is somebody's daughter, right?"

"But I don't have to worry about all them. The only ones I have to worry about are married and living upstate or upstairs getting ready for school."

"Really? They're the only ones you have to worry about? How about this girl Ricky likes? You don't think she's gonna be a problem when he stays up until 3 in the morning talking to her? When his starts falling behind in school because he's so hung up on her? Or when they have a problem and she goes crying to her father, who then takes it up with you?"

He snickered. "I'm pretty sure I can handle a little girl's dad."

"Doesn't that 400 pound wrestler have kids at Marlowe Academy and a daughter about Ricky's age?"

His jaw tightened. "What are the chances of that girl being the one Ricky likes?"

"What are the chances of him being a daddy before he graduates high school?"

He blinked. "He won't date until he's in college."

Jo walked into the kitchen, not greeting either of her parents and grabbed a piece of buttered toast.

"Nice to see you didn't drown," Rick quipped as she took a bit of her toast. She shrugged one shoulder and found her empty backpack in the living room.

"Hey," Kate called out to her. "Hey, you need to eat something. Toast doesn't count, get back here."

"Mom," Jo groaned as she walked back into the kitchen.

Kate just shook her head. "I'm sorry, but you're defying society and being a teenage girl who eats." She put a plate of bacon and eggs on the island in front of Jo's seat. "You have plenty of time to eat before you need to leave for school so don't give me that excuse."

"But if you prefer more time, you can spend less time blowing up our water bill," Rick told her, Kate swatted him in the arm. He shrugged. "Just a suggestion."

* * *

Once the kids had left for school, Rick turned to Kate, who had stayed home later than usual to make sure Jo was ready for her first day. She would be a bit late for work but had already called Javi and asked him to hold down the fort.

"You should stay home today," Rick said, his arms wrapping around her waist.

"You know I can't. I'm already late as it is." She turned in his arms and kissed him quickly. "Besides, don't you have to write?"

He frowned. "Yeah," he said with a heavy sigh. "But no one's here to distract me. I'd kind of gotten used to having Jo around during the day. Can we homeschool her?"

"Absolutely not," she told him. "You might actually finish a chapter or two." She placed both hands against his chest and pushed him back. "I promise, I'll take a couple vacation days and spend the whole day with you while the kids are at school."

He pouted. "When?"

She smiled, touching his lip. "Luke gets that pout of his from you, you know?"

"No! Don't talk about the kids right now."

She bit her lip. "In a couple weeks, ok? I'll see what I can do about getting some time off."

"Promise?"

She had to laugh at how much he resembled their ten year old before she nodded, kissing him once more. "I promise. But right now, I have to go."

He sighed, leaning against the counter as she walked away from him to grab her bag. "Have a good day, I guess."

"Oh, stop it. Get writing," she told him in the same tone she used to tell the kids to do homework.

He shuddered as she left. "Ugh, mom voice," he mumbled to himself as he shuffled to his office.

* * *

AN: decided to throw in a little Caskett sans-children there. For those wondering what's going on with Alexis and Martha, Alexis was mentioned briefly in this chapter (she's living upstate with her husband). And, no, Martha isn't dead. She's off being Martha. They'll both make appearances eventually.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I'm too tired to think of something creative to say. So I don't own Castle

* * *

Jo couldn't help yawning as her new English teacher droned on from the front of the room. She was in the next to last row, the boy next to her had been sleeping soundly since class had started, his head on his desk where a puddle of drool had begun to form.

He was far more interesting to her than whatever lesson was going on. Not only had she come to the school halfway through a chapter in their textbook, Rick had always pushed the kids read outside of their grade. Chances were that she'd already learned whatever the old woman was trying to explain.

She couldn't help smiling at the tiny snores that escaped the boy's mouth. His curly brown hair had fallen into his face, a few strands flying upwards when he exhaled.

Jo jumped when the bell rang and the class around her all rose, including the boy next to her who seemed unaffected from his nap and was suddenly wide awake. She shook herself and gathered her books before she got up from her desk and left the room as well.

She went to her locker, biting her lip when she saw him standing at the locker two down from hers. She looked down, putting in her combination and pulling her locker open.

"Having a good first day, princess?" a voice asked. When she looked up, he was leaning against the thin metal door.

"Princess?"

"Princess. Castle. Get it?" He smiled at her.

She nodded. "Creative. You have some drool on your chin," she told him before shutting her locker and walking away from him.

He quickly wiped his chin with the back of his hand before running to meet up with Jo again. "Can I help you find your next class?"

"203," she pointed to a room to her left. "I learned how to count over the summer."

"Oh, snippy. I like it. I'm Matt, by the way."

"Jo. But I'm assuming you know that since you know my last name. I'm impressed that you do, seeing as you slept through English."

He laughed. "I knew you were watching me."

"I wasn't watching you… I was… yeah, shut up. How did you know my name?"

"I'm in your Science class too. I didn't sleep through that one. I'm glad I didn't, I would have missed your little introduction speech."

"Right," she mumbled. The second class of her day, Science, was the only teacher who made her stand in front of the class and introduce herself. She stopped in front of room 203 and turned to look at Matt. "So… I'll see you in Science tomorrow?"

"I'll save you a seat. My lab partner's got this crusty smell thing. Dude needs to learn to shower. I'd love to have a partner who doesn't smell like a dead fish is trapped in his pants."

"Thanks… I think." She nodded then motioned to the room as the bell rang. "I should… and so should you."

"Until tomorrow then, princess." He bowed quickly then walked down the hall.

* * *

Rick groaned as he walked around the living room, cleaning up after the four kids who had all dropped their bookbags in the room before running upstairs. As he picked up Jo's purple bag, her cell phone fell out of its pocket.

He picked up the phone, noticing a message on the lock screen. "Ur # was easy 2 find, princess - M"

He put the phone down and got his phone then dialed a number. "Espo," he greeted the detective on the other end of the line. "I need you to run a number for me."

"Really, bro? You haven't figured out how to do it yourself by now?"

"Look, just I need you to run it, alright? And don't tell Kate."

There was a long pause from Espo then he whispered, "you do realize she's my boss, right?"

"And? She's my wife."

"Why the big secret then?"

Rick walked into his office, sitting down as he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger. "Look… it's about Jo. She got a text…"

"You're reading your kid's texts? Man, that's messed up."

"Someone texted her, calling her princess."

"A boy?"

Rick smiled, knowing he had him. Javi had always been overprotective of the girls, always warning Jo and Ryan's twin daughters against boys, including his own son. "I'm guessing."

The other man inhaled deeply. "What's the number?"


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: don't own it

* * *

Rick walked to the front door when there was a knock, opening it to find Javi on the front porch holding a file. "I ran the number. Not sure you're gonna like it."

"He used a pound sign for the word number and the number 2 for to. How bad could it possibly be?"

"He's 45. Name's Randall Grant. He's clean, manages a grocery store but uh…" He handed the file to Rick, who read it then rolled his eyes at the other man.

"He has a 17-year-old son who goes to Beacon. Matthew. The message was signed M."

"Oh," Espo mumbled. "Well uh… kid's got a good family, hard working mom and dad."

"Right. Good detective work."

"Hey, I panicked. I see the number registered to some old dude, I didn't know if some creep from the Internet was after her or what."

"Thanks for looking out for her but it's just a kid."

Esposito raised his eyebrows. "A boy. A seventeen-year-old boy. Do you remember being seventeen? It's a dangerous age. Especially for an impressionable girl."

* * *

Rick knocked on the closed door of Jo's bedroom before he entered. "Dad!" She nearly jumped off her bed. "What are you doing? I could have been naked."

"Why would you be getting naked in the middle of the day?" He walked into her room and sat down in her computer chair. "Who's Matthew Grant?"

She shook her head. "I don't know."

"Really? He seems to know you, _princess_." He pulled her phone out of his pocket and held it up.

"What?" She scrambled off her bed and snatched her phone away from her father. "You went through my phone? Dad, that's creepy. And a total invasion of my privacy."

"First of all, I pay the bill, it's my phone. And you'll get privacy when you earn it. Why was your number so easy for that kid to find?"

"I don't know. There's this thing called Google. You can pretty much look up anything."

"Keep talking to me like that and you're gonna get another month tacked on to your punishment. Who is Matthew Grant?"

"He's a guy at school. We talked for like two minutes today."

"And he calls you princess?"

"It's a joke, cause my name's Castle."

He nodded. "Right. Cute." He stood up and took the phone out of Jo's hand again. "You can have this back along with your TV and computer when you're ungrounded."

"Seriously? What am I gonna do without my phone for two months?"

"I don't know, not text strange boys you hardly know?"

She sighed. "What if there's an emergency and I need to call you or Mom? You know, because you sent me to a school an hour away from home, I might need to get in touch with you."

His jaw tightened. "Fine. You're lucky though, if I could get you a Nokia I would." He gave her her phone back.

"What's a Nokia?"

He just shook his head. "Never mind. But if I see on the bill that you're texting that guy in the middle of the night, I'm blocking his number."

"You don't even know him, Dad."

"Do you like him?"

She groaned. "I don't know. Like I said, we only talked for a few minutes and it was mostly about his sleeping habits and his smelly lab partner."

"But… do you like him? Do… do you find him… attractive?"

Jo looked at her father. "I'm not having this conversation with you," she said disgustedly.

"If you do, you know you can talk to me, right?"

"Right."

"And, you know, you've never really showed an interest in boys…"

"Dad!"

"Don't feel pressured to be something you're not," he continued as if Jo hadn't interrupted him. "If you… don't like boys, you don't have to like boys. Your mother and I, the people who really love you, will always love you. No matter who you love."

She put her face into her hands. "God, Dad. I like guys."

"Are you sure? Because I'd be fine… in fact I'd prefer if you didn't."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Seriously?" She fell flat onto her bed, putting her pillow over her face.

"So… guys. Matthew. Matt."

Jo groaned and lifted the pillow off her face then walked to her father, grabbing his arms and pulling him out of the chair then pushing him out of her room, slamming the door once he was in the hallway.

"Ok," he said through the closed door. "Good talk, honey."


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that speak in this chapter

* * *

Rick sat down on his bed, pulling his socks off before he lifted his legs onto the mattress and leaned against the headboard.

"Hey, you had the talk with Jo, right?" he called into the bathroom.

Kate walked through the open door that led to their bathroom, rubbing lotion onto her arms then pulling her hair into a ponytail before she crawled into bed. "What talk?"

"You know, _the_ talk. About… stuff."

She laughed. "Stuff? How did you get Alexis through high school on your own?"

"Easy, I told her not to do something and she didn't do it. I never had to worry about her out with guys. She always knew better."

"Knew better than what?"

"Knew better than to… do things."

"What, do you think she was a virgin until she married Derek?"

Rick shrugged one shoulder then nodded. Kate had to put her fist against her mouth to keep from laughing and touched his arm with her other hand.

"Oh, babe. No." She rubbed his arm, shaking her head.

"No? What do you mean, no?"

"I mean… no. She came to me a couple times about Ashley…"

"Ashley? Really?" He shook his head. "If I ever see that guy again..."

"You'll do what? Honestly, Rick, it was almost 20 years ago. She just came to me because she wanted someone to talk to after, another woman who she could trust and wouldn't judge her. She was safe, nothing bad happened and she's perfectly fine. Besides, we don't even know if Ashley lives in the city anymore."

"I can find out."

"You're not looking up a nearly 40-year-old man who dated your daughter while he was in high school."

"Well, according to you, they did more than date."

Kate rolled her eyes. "Didn't this start as a conversation about Jo? Do you think she's…"

His eyes widened. "Don't say that. She's just a baby."

"She's almost as old as Alexis was when she…"

Rick stuck his fingers in his ears and closed his eyes. "No! Lalalalala."

Kate rolled her eyes, pulling his hands down. "I don't like this either, she's my daughter too but we have to admit to ourselves that she's young woman now."

He scowled. "No, she's 16. _Teen_."

"And in some cultures you would have traded her for a goat two years ago."

"I like her too much for a goat. I'd want at least a cow for her. Maybe even two."

She shook her head. "Why is this coming up all of a sudden?"

"I think she might like a guy at school."

"Really? What did she tell you about him?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Then how do you know?"

"There was a text and…"

"A text? You read her texts?"

"You know, she gets that shrieking banshee thing she does from you. And not all of them, just one that was on her lock screen."

"You can't just read her texts. If we expect her to come to us with her problems, we can't just invade her personal life."

"Whose side are you on?"

She opened her mouth then closed it again. "Honestly, I don't know. On one hand…"

"No, no. Don't pick this apart like a case you need to solve, guilty versus innocent. This isn't a case. If she's not gonna tell us things…"

"We need to trust her," Kate finished for him. "We need to trust that we raised her right."

"So what, we're just supposed to let her do whatever she wants?"

"Of course not but we can't read her texts or her emails or whatever. She's not a criminal we're investigating, she's our daughter. Do you think we need to put her on birth control?"

His eyes widened. "No!"

"I talked to her though, about everything. About boys, safe sex." She grabbed his hands before he hand the chance to cover his ears again. "If you think there's a reason to worry about this, we need to give her the resources. She can't just pick stuff up off the streets."

"Didn't you say a few days ago that we need to set boundaries?"

"We do but sometimes boundaries about this kind of stuff aren't that easy to set. We can make as many rules as we want but I was a 16 year old girl once, desperate to prove to my parents and to myself that I was a grown up. Except I wasn't, I did things I regret. I was stupid about it, I wasn't careful. I almost got into a lot of trouble and I was lucky that everything turned out ok."

"You never told me all that."

She shrugged. "It was never important. It was a long time ago, I was just a dumb kid. I can't let something like that, or worse, happen to my daughter. If she's going to… be in a relationship, she has to be prepared for everything that might come with it."

"You were on the pill and still got pregnant with Jo."

"That was almost 17 years ago, they've made advances and you're the one who decided shower sex would be a good idea when you knew I had been sick and the pill made me feel worse, so I didn't take it for a few days."

"Why did we decide to have three more after her? We should have stopped while we were ahead."

"Technically we only decided to have Sara. Javi and Lanie just had Mateo and Lanie and I wanted to raise our babies together."

"True. Jo and Ricky were surprises. I still don't know where Luke came from."

Kate rolled her eyes. "He's yours. He has your eyes and your smile, he looks just like the pictures of you when you were a little boy. Just because you happened to be on a book tour when I found out doesn't mean your part in making him didn't happen. In the back of a limo at the launch party."

He smiled. "Oh, right."

"And that's what I'm talking about. You know how easy it is to get caught up in the moment. Certain articles of clothing get lost, things get forgotten." She ran her fingertips through his hair and kissed his cheek before laying down. "I'll talk to Jo over the weekend."

"What if it's too late by then?"

"She's been at this school for a day, she just met this guy. Give her, and us, some credit." She pulled the covers over her and rolled over. "Night, sweetie."

"He's 17. What if he drives? What if he has a van?"

"Go to sleep," she groaned. "I'll talk to her in the morning if it'll make you happy."

"Can I print up pictures of what Gonorrhea looks like?"

"No."

"Herpes? Mouth Herpes!"

"Don't make me kick you."

* * *

AN: Caskett scene! Hope you enjoyed it


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle

AN: I'm on a weekend vacation from work (weekends off never happen for me), so I'm trying to update as much as I can before I go back Monday morning

* * *

Kate smacked Ricky's hand as he reached over to steal a pancake from Luke's plate. Sara was sitting in her spot next to Kate, eating her breakfast quietly. Rick was upstairs waking up Jo.

"Dad, stop!" Jo suddenly yelled from the living room as she ran to the kitchen.

"What are you doing to her?" Kate asked as Rick followed the teenager.

"Nothing," he said, hiding a stack of papers behind his back.

"Seriously?" Kate said with a sigh, spotting one of the pictures he was hiding. "I told you not to print those. Go shred them.."

"But…"

"Shred them," she told him through gritted teeth.

"What were those?" Luke asked, looking up at his mother and sister as Rick went to his office to destroy the papers in question.

"Eat your pancakes," Kate told him, running a hand through his light brown hair.

Jo sat down with her younger siblings and looked up at Kate. "I'm not hungry," she mumbled.

"You sick, JoJo?" Sara asked, placing one tiny hand against Jo's forehead.

Jo smiled at her baby sister. "No, I'm just a little tired, monkey."

"You can have some of Mommy's special juice. She says it helps when she's tired."

Jo looked at their mother, who shook her head. "No coffee until you're a senior."

"Have my juice," Sara said, pushing her cup of orange juice towards Jo.

"You need to drink your juice," Jo told her before lifting the little girl into her lap. "You need to get big and strong so you can beat up Ricky and Luke," she whispered.

"I heard that," Kate told her.

"Girls need to stick together, right?" Jo tickled Sara's stomach, making her giggle.

"Right!" She slapped her hand against Jo's when she held her hand up for a high-five.

"Alright, enough conspiring against each other," Kate said. "Go get your backpacks ready before I have to take you all to jail."

Sara slid off Jo's lap and walked over to Kate. "You won't really take me to jail, will you, Mommy?"

Kate scrunched up her nose, considering Sara's question before shaking her head. "I guess not. You're too cute to go to jail."

"Ricky can go to jail. He's not cute."

"Hey!"

Jo laughed. "She's right. You look like Dad."

"What about Dad?" Rick asked as he reentered the kitchen.

"Ricky's going to jail because he looks like you," Jo said.

Rick looked at his oldest son, they both raised their eyebrows at each other. "No riding naked on horses and you'll be fine," Rick said, ruffling Ricky's hair. He made a face and smoothed it back down. "You all look like me. You got my nose," he told Jo.

Jo looked mortified, her hand flying up to cover her nose. "What? Your nose is huge! Mom!"

Kate rolled her eyes. "Your nose is fine," she told Jo. "And so is yours," she said to Rick, kissing the tip of his nose.

"First the diseased pictures, now this," Jo mumbled. "Are you guys trying to make me throw up my dinner from last night?"

"If we were trying to do that, we'd make you another brother or sister on the table," Rick quipped. "Oh, actually, we already did."

"Stop giving her images," Kate told him. "I was serious about getting your books, guys. You're all gonna be late. Get a move on." She clapped her hands once, prompting the kids to all move out of their seats.

* * *

Jo raised as eyebrow at Matt, who had his backpack and jacket in the seat next to him at his lab desk. "You really made your old partner move?" she asked as he moved his stuff so she could sit.

"I told you I would. I figured we might have great chemistry," he said with a grin.

"Are all of your jokes that lame or are you just trying extra hard to be a dork for my benefit?"

"Ouch. You wound my pride, princess."

"How much pride can you really have to do an Internet search on a girl you hardly know so you can get her phone number?"

He smiled. "So you did get my text. I got worried when you never responded."

"Actually, my dad got it first. He had my uncle do a search on it, found out your name, where you live. Sorry, I know, it's really creepy."

"Is your uncle a cop or something?"

"Yeah. My mom's actually captain of a precinct in the city."

"Whoa. That's intense. So does being a cop like run in your family or something? Your mom and uncle…"

"Oh, my uncle's not really my uncle. Like, biologically speaking. He's my parents' best friend."

"So your cop uncle who's not really your uncle did a search on me."

"Uh… your dad, to be technical. His name was the one that popped because the number's in his name…" She trailed off, running a hand through her hair. "Uh… if you want your old partner back, I'll understand."

Matt shook his head. "Why would I do that? I just need to be more careful texting you from now on."

Jo put one hand over her mouth to try to keep herself from blushing.

"I was actually wondering if you want to go out sometime."

Her hand fell off her mouth, hitting her desk. "What? No," she said quickly.

"Oh. Well, thanks for not awkwardly drawing out your response."

"No."

"I get it."

"No, I don't mean no."

He blinked. "What do you mean? It's kind of a yes or no question."

"I just… we just met yesterday."

"Do you have like a 48 hour period after meeting someone where you can't decide if you want to hang out with them?"

"We hardly know each other."

"What better way to get to know each other than sharing an overpriced pizza?"

She smiled "You asked, you're paying."

* * *

AN: Jo takes after her mommy when it comes to answering yes/no relationship questions (if you watched the sneak peek, you know what I'm referring to)


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle

* * *

Rick hung up his phone as he walked out of his office, he spotted Jo sitting on the living room couch, doing her homework. "Good, you're home. I need you to babysit your brothers and sister Friday night. Gina set up an appearance for your mother and I at a charity event."

"School was fine, thanks for asking," Jo said, not looking away from her textbook. "I can't Friday. I have plans."

"Excuse me? Last I checked, you were grounded. You can't have plans."

"You said no TV, no computer. You never said anything about going out."

Rick opened his mouth then closed it again, sitting in the chair next to the couch. "It was implied. What are these plans?"

"Uh… I'm getting pizza with some kids from school."

"With Matt?"

Jo shrugged innocently. "He'll probably be there."

"Right," he said, nodding as he stood. "You're not going."

"What? That's not fair."

"Be happy we let out of your bedroom."

"I thought you were proud of me. I had a good reason…"

"I'm happy that you stood up for yourself but your mom was right, you can't just hit people. You're being punished because of what you did, not why you did it. Cancel your plans, you're babysitting."

Jo sighed. "Why can't Ricky watch Luke and Sara? Just make sure to leave food he can microwave and lock anything he can accidently blow up in Mom's gun safe."

Rick pinched the bridge of his nose. "Johanna, I'm not fighting with you about this. You are watching the kids on Friday. End of discussion."

"What about Aunt Lanie and Uncle Javi?" she asked as he walked away. "Sara can play with Mateo. Mom and Aunt Lanie are always saying how they need to take them to the park more often, joking about how someday they're gonna married. And the boys love hearing Uncle Javi's war stories."

"Jo," he said sternly. "I said no."

"Asshole," she muttered under her breath.

Rick paused for a moment before turning and going back to his daughter. "That's it. Give me your phone," he told her, holding his hand out.

"What?"

"Johanna, phone. Now."

"Fine, here." She pulled her cell phone out of the back pocket or her jeans and put it in her father's hand. "There's no texts from Matt, so don't bother looking."

"Cute. You can kiss this goodbye." He tossed the phone across the room, Jo jumped when she heard it hit the wall then the hardwood floor.

"Dad, what are you doing? Are you out of you mind?"

"You don't talk to me like that anymore. You think you're an adult, start acting like one and lose the attitude. No computer, you can hand write your homework from now on. Any research you need to do, you can use my computer with supervision."

"Dad…"

"I'm not done. You're not leaving this house except for school. I hope you see enough of Matt and your friends during the day because you're coming straight back here for the next three months."

"Three? What happened to two?"

"Let's see, you started talking back and disobeying us. Keep it up, Jo, we'll go for four."

Jo nodded silently while Rick, clearly fuming, took deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Take your homework, go to your room. I don't want to see you right now," he told her, going back to his office.

* * *

Rick was startled awake when Kate wrapped her arms around him from behind. He'd fallen asleep in his office, in his leather computer chair at his desk.

"It's been awhile since I found you sleeping in here," she whispered, then kissed his neck and squeezed his shoulders softly. "Jo called me at work."

"How? Her phone's lying in pieces on the living room floor."

"She told me that, she used Ricky's. Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Nope." He blinked and rubbed his eyes to clear the sleep out.

"I want to hear your side of things. She said she didn't do anything."

He shook his head. "You didn't hear what she said to me."

"Then tell me about it." She turned his chair around and sat in his lap. "What happened?"

He sighed softly, putting his arms around her waist. "She called me an asshole."

"Were you being one?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes. Do you realize how many things of mine would have been broken if my parents decided to throw my stuff around every time I swore when I was her age?"

"I wasn't. I told her she had to babysit while we were out. Gina wants us to make an appearance at the fundraiser for the new community center. Jo wanted to go out that night."

"We can probably find another babysitter if she has plans."

"No, she doesn't have plans. She's grounded, she's been grounded. You were in the room, you remember."

"I do remember. You never said anything about her not being allowed out of the house."

He frowned. "Seriously? I have to say that specifically?"

She laughed softly, running a hand through his hair. "You're just bad at punishments. You're vague and then you go too far and start breaking things and, honestly, that's scary."

"She just got me so mad, Kate. Alexis never talked back to me, never."

"For the millionth time, Jo isn't Alexis. We're getting her a new phone. You can block all the numbers you want from contacting her but she needs a phone."

He released a breath. "I'm a horrible father."

"No, honey. No, you're not. It's been a long time since Alexis was a kid and the world is a different place. You're just… learning, we both are. Jo just happens to be a clone of me so I'm a step ahead of her most times."

"I should talk to her."

"Not tonight. You both need time to cool off. Besides, it's late and she has to be up for school in the morning."

He nodded. "Are we letting her go out on Friday?"

"Hell no, she's grounded. She was out of line with what happened today, I agree with you that she's not leaving the house. But we're paying her."

"Why? She already gets an allowance for doing nothing."

"I know she's been acting out but making her watch Luke and Ricky for a whole night is cruel and unusual punishment."

"Fine, but we're giving her half of what we give normal sitters. Not including the ones Ricky's set on fire."

* * *

AN: ok so… I don't really know where scary Hulk Castle came from in the first scene but like he said to Kate, dealing with a surly teen is new for him. That's just what the Castle in my head did. I have no control over him

AN2: and for those wondering about Lanie and Espo's son who was mentioned in the last few chapters, Mateo will have an official introduction, along with the Ryan kids. The Castle kids have more antics before that happens though.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own it

* * *

Jo bit her lip as she followed Matt out of their English class. She'd hardly spoken a word to him that didn't involve their classes together since he'd asked her out three days earlier, except to tell him her phone broke when he asked why she didn't answer his texts.

And then Friday came. He still thought she'd be leaving school with him, going to a pizza place a few blocks down. "I have to talk to you," she finally told him, touching his arm so he turned to look at her once they were in the hallway.

"Sure. What's up?"

"I uh… I can't go out with you tonight. I know, I waited until the last minute to tell you but I have to watch my brothers and sister."

He frowned then shrugged. "Some other time then."

"No," she whispered shaking her head. "I really want to go out with you. Really."

"Only two reallys? I was hoping for three or four."

She shook her head. "I'm grounded, for three months."

"Three months? What did you do?"

"Long story. It ends with me calling my dad an asshole and my cell phone getting thrown against the wall

"So your dad broke your phone? Damn, if I called my dad an asshole, he'd break my neck. You got off lucky."

"Yeah, I guess. Anyway, sorry but um… just, sorry."

"Hey, don't be." He shrugged, putting his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "Would it be too early to make a date for New Year's?"

"New Year's? It's only October."

"Exactly. You should be ungrounded by then, right?"

"Yeah, I guess." She shrugged. "Don't you have someone else you want to spend that night with?"

He chuckled. "If I did, I'd probably be getting kicked in the balls right now."

"And that would be a pity."

He leaned against the wall next to her. "Do you think I would have asked you out if I had a girlfriend?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I'm the new kid. How am I supposed to know you're not planning to lure me to prom then pour pig's blood on me?"

"Slow down there, Carrie. You don't want to hang out with me on New Year's and now you want to go to prom together? Isn't that a bit of a leap forward?"

She rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, you want to go to the prom with me. If you play your cards right, you might."

"I never said I want to go to the prom with you. You hear what you wanna hear."

"And what just I heard is that you want to go to the prom with me."

She couldn't help laughing. "Shut up."

"Make me," he said, taking a step towards her.

"I uh… I…" She blinked up at him, stumbling backwards as the bell rang and she released a quick breath. "I have to get to class," she said, laughing nervously. "I'll, uh see you in… um…. later. Bye."

"Bye," he said with a quick laugh as she walked away from him quickly.

* * *

Kate stood in front of the full-length mirror in her and Rick's bedroom, smoothing out wrinkles in her off the shoulder dark red dress. She sighed, looking at herself in the mirror.

She hadn't worn a dress like it since before she'd been pregnant with Sara, with three young children she'd opted to stay home with them. When Sara was born she didn't want to miss a moment, she knew she would be their last child and she'd already missed more first words and steps than she wanted to admit.

With an infant at home and three school-aged children to care for, she decided to stay home more often while he went to launch parties and events by himself.

Carrying and giving birth to four children wasn't easy on her body, her skin had been stretched, her stomach never became completely flat again despite her attempts to workout whenever she had a free half hour. She had to stay in shape, her job required it, but she was no longer the young woman Rick loved to show off. Her age was showing despite her best efforts to cover the wisps of gray in her hair and the wrinkles around her eyes.

Her children were mostly grown now, able to take care of themselves and each other. She had no excuse not to go.

"Look at you," Rick said as he came out of the bathroom. He walked over to her, sliding his arms around her waist and taking advantage of her dress design to kiss her shoulder and neck.

"You start that, we won't make it to the fundraiser."

"Good," he whispered.

She shook her head, turning to look at him, laughing when she saw his bow tie angled up slightly. "You'll never fully grasp this, will you?"

"Maybe I just like it when you dress me," he told her, standing up straighter as she retied his tie. "And undress me. Speaking of undress, I don't think we'll be staying for the whole night because I already can't wait to get you out of that dress."

"Yeah, the dress," she said with a sigh, tugging at the skirt.

"What? Do you not like the color?"

"It's not the color. It's just really… tight."

He shrugged. "I miss showing you off."

"There's a lot more to show off."

"Kate, you're beautiful. You'll always be beautiful." He slid his hands across her hips. "Don't concentrate on this. Everyone tonight will be looking at you because you are breathtaking."

"For a fifty-two year old mother of four?"

He shook his head, resting his chin on her shoulder so he was looking in the mirror with her. "I don't see that when I look at you. I see the beautiful woman I proposed to on the swings 18 years ago. I see the woman I promised to grow old with and you are doing that far more gracefully than I am."

* * *

AN: I originally wasn't going to write a Caskett scene in this chapter but the premiere made me want to write more of them because after 18 years, he's still hot for his wife and acts kind of like a horny teenager. I was gonna write a scene with all the kids while Jo babysat but it ended up being pretty boring and redundant sooo… family scene next chapter though, for those of you who like the other Castle kids, promise


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own it

* * *

"Do you want to do something after school?" Jo asked Matt as they left their English class. "Maybe go to the pizza place you told me about?"

He shrugged one shoulder and nodded. "Sure. I thought you were grounded though."

She stopped near their lockers, turning to look at him and leaning back against the wall. "What my parents don't know won't hurt them. Honestly, they won't even realize I'm gone. My dad's been locking me in my room basically every day."

Mat smiled as the bell rang, putting his hands into his pockets. "If you're sure, then yeah. Definitely."

She leaned up to kiss his cheek quickly. "Definitely," she whispered. "See you after class."

* * *

"I have to take you to this place in the city, Lombardi's," Jo told Matt as she swallowed a bite of pizza. "It's like, the best pizza in the world."

"Best in the world? I think a place in Italy might have slightly better."

She shook her head. "Nope. Seriously, this place has been around forever. And we probably won't be going to Italy any time soon to test your theory."

"So really it's the best in _our_ world then."

"The world in which we can take a taxi to, yes." She reached across the table to take his hand. "I really like you."

He grinned. "Good. I like you too."

Jo jumped when her new phone buzzed in her pocket. Kate had given it to her over the weekend after she babysat as a partial payment but she had strict rules on who she was allowed to contact, mostly every number outside of her family's was blocked.

She groaned softly, looking at the ID on the display. "It's my dad."

"Busted."

She pressed the button to ignore the call then put her phone on the table. "I'll deal with it when I get home." Her phone buzzed again, sliding across the smooth table as it vibrated.

Again, she ignored the call. Moments later, it rang again, this time it was a text from her brother: _Were ru ou? _

She blinked as she read Ricky's message, he'd taken after their father with his command of grammar and spelling, he never abbreviated words texting and rarely misspelled.

"What's going on?" Matt asked.

Jo stared at her phone, shaking her head as two more texts came in, both from her father. _Please, answer your phone. _ Then, seconds later: _Meet us at Lenox Hill Hospital. Hurry._

Her hands shook as she reread the last message, the word hospital seemed to bold itself, getting bigger and bigger the more she stared at it.

"What happened?" she heard Matt say, his voice sounding distant. "Jo, what's going on? Jo!" He finally pulled the phone out of her hand and read the texts. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and threw a couple bills onto the table to cover their check before he stood. "I'll drive you."

She shook her hand again, tears now forming in her eyes. "What if… what…" she stammered, unable to complete her thought.

"Come on," he said, putting his arm around her to help her stand before he walked her out of the restaurant. "Everything's gonna be ok," he whispered.

* * *

When they'd finally arrived at the hospital, Rick was in the waiting room with the other three kids. Sara was curled up in his lap, her head against his arm as she slept. On either side of him were Ricky and Luke, Ricky was staring straight ahead, his eyes red while Luke was playing a game on Rick's phone.

Matt ran down the hallway with Jo, taking her hand as they left his car and holding it tightly until they found her family.

"Dad," Jo gasped, stepping towards her father, her hand slipping out of Matt's. "What happened? Where's Mom?"

Rick stood slowly, carefully putting Sara into the chair he'd been sitting in so he wouldn't wake her. "She's gonna be ok," he told her. "She's in surgery but she's gonna be ok."

Jo shook her head. "I don't… why is she in surgery? What happened?"

"She was shot. She was wearing her vest but it was at close range, the bullet pierced the vest. Four broken ribs and a punctured lung. It could have been a lot worse. She's survived a lot worse. She'll be ok."

She fell into her father's arms, her arms tight around his middle. He hugged her back tightly, rubbing her back. "It's gonna be ok," he whispered over and over.

Rick spotted Matt, standing silently in the corner of the waiting room, watching Jo. Rick slowly released his grip on his daughter, straightening up too look at the teenager. "Thanks for bringing her," Rick said.

Matt nodded silently then carefully approached them. "Tell me how it goes, ok?" he whispered, touching Jo's back.

She nodded, muttering a quick "thanks."

Matt hesitated then kissed the side of her head quickly before he left the waiting room. Rick watched as he walked away, his jaw tight until he felt Jo's arms wrap around him again.

"I'm sorry, Daddy," Jo said, her eyes brimming with tears. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

AN: don't kill me! There's a reason I did this, it was originally going to happen later in the story but nothing is really happening the way I'd originally planned it


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own it

AN: so I've had a couple people telling me Kate getting hurt was pointless and they're done reading this now. There's not really much I can do if they've already stopped but I'm hoping people will at least give me the benefit of the doubt that there's a _reason_ I had Kate got shot and didn't just do it for kicks

AN 2: I wanted to get this chapter out today because I have to work 10 days in a row after today and starting Sunday to Saturday I have a 46 hour week so I might not have a lot of time to write for a few days

* * *

"I can't believe this," Jo muttered to herself, running her hands through her hair. Rick and the two younger children had fallen asleep after spending hours in the waiting room. "I can't believe this is happening. I shouldn't have gone out with Matt. Why didn't I just go home after school?"

Ricky, who was the only other member of the family to stay awake, was sitting next to her and rolled his eyes. "Will you shut up? She didn't get shot because you were with your stupid boyfriend. She was doing her job."

"I should have been at home though."

Ricky nodded. "Yeah, you should have. You should have been there when Dad answered the door and there were two cops standing on the porch. You should have seen his face when he told me to take Sara and Luke upstairs so he could talk to them. You should have been there when he realized you weren't there, that you never came home."

She exhaled quickly, rubbing her forehead. "She's been in there a while."

"A piece of her rib went through her lung, I don't think it's something that can be fixed in a couple hours."

Jo lifted her legs, curling them under her as she curled into a ball on the small chair. "Like Dad said, she's survived worse."

Ricky nodded. "She has. You've heard the stories. This isn't the first time it's happened, probably won't be the last."

* * *

Rick walked into Kate's hospital room, smiling when he saw her awake. "Hey, honey," he said softly. He walked over to her and kissed her forehead before he sat down next to her.

"Where are the kids?"

"It's late, Lanie and Javi came and took them to their place so they could get some rest. They didn't really want to, but we made them. They'll be back in the morning." He took her hand, squeezing it softly. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been worse." She released a breath. "Maybe this is a sign, Rick."

"Sign? What do you mean, a sign? A sign for what?"

"We talked about me not going back to work before. When we had Jo, I didn't know if I'd ever want to leave her. I didn't know how I could. I had these nightmares about me leaving for the day and when I came home, she would be hurt or missing or something. And then I went back and I came home everyday and she was always fine, the kids are all always fine when I get home."

"Well, I know how much you like them. I figured I should try to keep them alive."

She smiled and let out a coughing laugh, placing a hand on her side. "Oh, don't make me laugh. I was also always scared that I wouldn't make it home to them. That they'd lose their mother and today they almost did."

He shook his head. "They didn't almost lose you, Kate. You're fine."

"I'm lucky. I got lucky."

"You were wearing your vest. I know how you work, you're in charge but you don't just sit at your desk and give commands. If you need to backup your team, you're there with them."

"Maybe it's time that I stop."

"You can't stop wearing your Kevlar," he told her, though he knew exactly what she meant. "I know it can get uncomfortable…"

"Rick," she said, squeezing his hand. "You know what I mean. I lost my mom too early, I can't let my kids lose theirs. Not like this."

"Do you remember when you were pregnant with Ricky, you thought about leaving the force? You missed Jo and loved being with her everyday while you were on maternity leave. Then when he was born, I didn't think you'd ever put him down. You stayed home with us for a few more months then you started going stir crazy. You cooked everything in our kitchen, you reorganized our living room, you tried to help me write."

She rolled her eyes. "You followed me around for almost eight years, sorry I tried to give you some ideas."

"No, you physically tried to help me write. You wanted to type for me."

She let out a short laugh at the memory. "Oh yeah."

"I would love to have you home with me during the day but only if that's what you want too. You haven't gotten seriously hurt for twenty years. It's a pretty good track record. Statistically, you won't get hurt for at least another twenty, you'll be 72 and more than ready to retire by then."

"No, a good track record is never getting injured. There are people who go their whole careers and never get hurt."

Rick leaned forward, holding her hand in both of his. "Tell me this is what you want, Kate. Look at me and tell me you want to retire and I'll support you."

She turned her head to look at him. "I want to be there. I want to see my kids grow up. I want to help Jo and Sara get ready for their proms and teach Luke and Ricky how to dance. I want to see them graduate high school and help them pack their things and take them to college. I want to be at their weddings, I want to see you walk the girls down the aisle like I watched you with Alexis. I want to hold my grandchildren."

"And you will see and do all of those things. You will be there for everything, with all of our kids."

"There's only one way I can guarantee that."

"Nothing is guaranteed. We both know that. I could fall down the steps and break my neck. Whatever you do, I want you to be happy. If staying at home will make you happy, then stay home. But don't quit because you're scared of what will happen if you don't."

"I just…"

"Listen, you're gonna be on disability for a couple months before you're ready to go back. If you aren't completely sick of me by then, we can talk about this again."


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own it

AN: I could have sworn I've mentioned everyone's ages but in case I somehow missed someone or there's confusion on ages and the timeline. It's 2031, Jo - 16, Ricky - 13, Luke - 10 and Sara - 6. Kate is 52 and Rick is 62. Alexis would be 37. Martha would be about 85 (I said I'd bring her back but haven't decided how/why)

* * *

Kate was awoken in her bed by the sounds of her children's footsteps in the hallway outside of her room. She'd finally been given the ok by her doctor's to return home but she wasn't supposed to leave her bed for at least a week to allow her ribs and stitches to heal.

"Sara, stop it!" she heard Ricky yell.

"Ow," Sara suddenly cried out. "Daddy, Ricky hit me!"

"I didn't touch you. What are you doing?"

"I want to see Mommy."

"You can't. She's sleeping."

"But she hasn't played with me since she came home."

"She can't play with you. She can hardly move."

"What are you doing?" a third voice from the hallway said, Jo's voice. "Both of you need to shut up before you wake Mom up."

Kate sighed, pushing herself up to recline against the pillows. "Mom's already awake," she said loud enough for them to hear.

There was a few seconds of silence followed by the sound of tiny footsteps running towards the room before the door cracked open, then pulled back as the little girl let out another yell. "Ow, Jo! Let me go."

"Sara, no," Jo scolded.

"But…"

"You need to let her rest."

"Come in," Kate said, cutting off her daughters' argument.

Sara didn't hesitate again before rushing into the room and climbing up onto the bed next to Kate. "Careful," Kate warned as her youngest child snuggled against her uninjured side.

Jo and Ricky walked into the room a moment later. "Sorry," Ricky muttered. "Dad told us to let you rest."

"I can't sleep forever," Kate said, running a hand through Sara's hair and kissing the top of her head quickly. "Where's Luke?"

"Downstairs playing video games with Dad," Jo told her. "Ignoring the real world."

"He's only ten," Kate said softly.

"Dad's not."

Kate smiled. "Ok well, he acts like he's ten."

* * *

"Dad, we don't need a babysitter," Jo said, trailing after Rick as he went to answer the doorbell that had rung. "I'll help take care of Luke and Sara while Mom's down, I swear."

"Just because I've been too pre-occupied to ground you until you graduate, does not mean you're off the hook for not coming home after school. How am I supposed to trust you to watch your sister?"

"You can trust me. I'm sorry, I screwed up. It won't happen again."

Rick nodded. "We'll see. You'll like this babysitter though. She's watched you before, when you were just a baby."

Jo frowned as he finally opened the door but she quickly smiled when she saw who was on the other side.

"Alexis," she ran over to her half-sister and hugged her, then looked at the red-headed two-year-old in her arms. "Hey, Ethan," she cooed.

Rick smiled, looking at his grandson. "There's my little man. Come to PapPap." Ethan smiled, holding his arms out to Rick, who plucked the little boy out of Alexis' arms. "Oh, you're getting big," he said as he carried him away.

"Nice to see you too, Dad," Alexis muttered.

"You're watching us?" Jo asked.

"I'm helping out until your mom's back on her feet," she clarified. "Ethan missed his PapPap and Kay-Kay, Dad's been asking me to visit more often. We're gonna be staying here for a few days."

Jo frowned. "Just you and Ethan? Are… are you and Derek ok?"

"Oh, no, everything's fine. He couldn't get away from work. His firm has a huge case he's working on and he's trying to make partner, so he's putting in some extra hours. Since he'll hardly be home, I figured someone would need to cook for you guys while your mom's on bed rest."

"Hey," Rick said suddenly. "I cook."

"You cannot feed the kids smorelettes everyday for two months, Dad."

"Why not?"

"Because they're gross," Jo and Alexis said simultaneously.

* * *

Jo knocked on the door to the guest room Alexis and Ethan were staying in. It was already open a bit, she pushed it open and saw Alexis putting Ethan down for a nap in the toddler bed Rick had bought for him. "Lex, can we talk?"

Alexis turned to look at her sister and nodded. "Yeah, absolutely." They both sat down on the larger bed, facing each other. "What's wrong?"

"No… nothing. Nothing's wrong. I just um… have you ever liked a guy Dad just completely hated?"

Alexis laughed. "Of course. He's a father, it's his job to hate our boyfriends but most of mine did manage to charm him. Does Dad not like your boyfriend?"

Jo shook her head. "I honestly don't get it. He never even met him, there was one perfectly innocent text that Dad had no business even reading and he just flipped out. He just decided Matt's only after one thing. He refuses to give him a chance even though he's funny and smart and sweet and cute. He's so cute."

"I don't know that Dad would care much about that last one but if he treats you well, Dad will end up liking him eventually. How long have the two of you been dating?"

"Uh… we aren't. I mean, we went out once and then Mom got shot."

"I doubt the two events are related."

"I know but still, I should have been home but I was with Matt so now Dad probably hates him even more, if that's even possible."

"Hey, you know what happened wasn't your fault, right?"

Jo nodded. "I guess but what if this is all like the universe's way of telling me just to give up on Matt before things get even worse?"

"You're 16, the universe isn't conspiring against you. Dad might be but it's only because you're his little girl and he doesn't want to see you hurt."

"Sara's his little girl."

"You'll always be his little girl, so will I. And Sara has at least ten years before she'll be allowed to date. Right now, if she falls down and scrapes her knee, he can kiss it and make it better. Take it from someone who's gone through it all with him… scraped knees, broken bones and broken hearts, it's the stuff he can't put a Band-Aid on that scares him the most."


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I think you guys get it by now

* * *

Matt smiled when he saw Jo at her locker, she'd missed two days of school while Kate was in the hospital and trying to get settled at home. He walked up quietly behind her, careful to stay out of view of the mirror attached to the inside of her locker door and grabbed her waist.

She let out a quick scream and fell forward into her locker, Matt quickly put his arms around her to catch her. "Oh my God, don't do that," she said, turning in his arms to look at him. "I have two brothers, my automatic reaction to being snuck up on is to start punching and kicking."

He laughed. "Or falling."

"Well, I wasn't expecting an ambush at school and I've hardly slept in three days, give me a break. You can let me go now." She pushed his arms away and turned around again to get her books from her locker but he put his arms around her waist again from behind. "Or you can do that." She laughed, turning her head to look at him. "What are you…" she began but was cut off when he pressed his lips against hers.

"I missed you the last couple days," he whispered.

"That… um… ok." She stepped out of his arms again. "Thanks," she muttered.

He blinked. "You're welcome. I… sorry. Does my breath smell?" He put a hand against his mouth.

"No. No, your breath is good. Very… minty. I just wasn't expecting it."

"I can warn you before I kiss you next time if it'll make you feel better."

"Awfully confident of you to think there's gonna be a second time." She bit her lip, leaning back against the wall.

"Second, third." He shrugged, taking a step towards her. "A thousand."

She laughed. "Only a thousand? I hate to see you underestimate yourself."

"Is a thousand an underestimation?"

Jo shrugged one shoulder. "You tell me."

"It's a fun goal to set," he said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "We can start working towards it." He leaned towards her, stopping inches away from her lips as Jo closed her eyes. "Just so you know, this your warning," he whispered.

She opened her eyes to look at him and shook her head. "Shut up." She quickly closed the space between them and kissed him.

He leaned his forehead against hers, holding her hand. "You taste like cherries."

* * *

"When do you think your dad's gonna let you go out?" Matt asked as he walked to Jo's locker with her after class.

"The way I'm going, maybe college." She turned to face him. "If you wanna go out with someone you can actually go out with, I'll understand."

His eyes narrowed. "Is that what we're doing, going out?"

"I just meant like… we're not going out, obviously, because we can't but if you… wanted to spend more time kissing someone else," she stammered. "Like… like an actual girlfriend."

"So not a blowup doll?" He put his hands on her waist, pushing her softly back against the wall. "There really isn't anyone else right now I'd rather be kissing."

She blinked and shook her head. "So what, we're just gonna make out by our lockers until you find someone you like more?"

He opened and closed his mouth then shrugged. "I… no?"

"Cute." She pushed one of his hands away so she could slip out from between him and the wall and go to her locker, yanking it open.

"And now you're mad. We've been in this relationship less than three hours and I already screwed up." He ran a hand through his hair as he carefully approached her. "Will you at least tell me what I said to make you angry so I can be sure to not say it again?"

"We're in a relationship?" she asked looking at him over her shoulder.

"Ok, I know I said that after you got pissed so now I'm confused. Is this about the blowup doll thing because…"

She turned to face him, putting a hand on his arm to silence him. "You think we're in a relationship?"

"I… do you?"

"I asked you first."

He swallowed hard. "I think… we spend a lot of time not hanging out with other people between classes."

She frowned. "We should be more social. But that doesn't answer my question."

"It's up to you," he told her, scratching the back of his head. "If you want to be."

"I like you. I don't want to lose you."

"You won't." He put his arms around her waist again. "If you want to be my girlfriend, I want to be your boyfriend and when you're ungrounded, we'll go out on New Years like we talked about."

She smiled, putting her arms around his neck and kissed him quickly.

He grinned as she pulled away. "At least I have my blowup doll for when you're not around," he quipped. One of her hands slid onto his shoulder then yanked his ear.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I own Jo and Matt and the other kids. Everything else, no

* * *

When the final bell of the day rang, Jo quickly got her things from her locker and went four lockers down to Matt's, where he was standing with his backpack slung over one shoulder. She unzipped his backpack and began digging through it until he straightened up. "Can I help you find something?" he asked.

"You took my Chemistry homework. Mr. Mitchell gave us two lab sheets and you took them both. Where's your notebook?"

He grabbed a binder out of his locker and pulled two papers out. "Looking for this?" he asked, holding them up. When Jo reached for them, he moved them behind his back and turned to face her.

"Come on." She reached around his back and tried to pull the papers out of his hand, but he moved them once again, this time holding him above his head. She groaned, she was taller than some girls in her class, just over 5 foot 9, but Matt still had a couple inches on her. "Matt, please. I don't want to flunk Chemistry."

"You know our answers have to match exactly. It's supposed to be partner work."

She rolled her eyes, finally jumping to grab the paper off of him. "I'll do it tonight, you can copy the answers tomorrow morning," she told him, handing one of the sheets back to him.

"You want me to cheat?" he asked as if she'd offended him.

"Do you have a better idea? My dad expects me home in like forty-five minutes. And I have a bus to catch."

He shrugged. "I'll drive you home."

"My house is on the other side of the city. I can't ask you to do that. It's like an hour drive both ways, in good traffic."

"You didn't, I offered. Besides, we have homework to do."

"If my dad lets you in the house."

"Even if he doesn't, then it's hour longer I get to spend with you."

* * *

Jo laughed as Matt pushed her hair aside to kiss her neck. They'd gotten past Rick when they got to her house, promising to stay in the living room where he could keep an eye on them but he had gone to his office when Jo complained about his hovering making it impossible to get work done.

"Stop," she whispered, shrugging him off. "My dad's in the next room. Besides, we're supposed to be doing Chem homework and all you're studying is my neck."

"It's my Biology homework," he murmured against her neck, kissing it again.

"Oh my God, you're such a dork. Here, you do some of the work Mr. We-Have-To-Do-It-Together."

He smiled and slid the papers across the coffee table so they were in front of him. Jo hooked one arm over his shoulder, resting her chin against his arm. "What are you doing?"

"Checking your answers," she told him, tracing his jaw with one finger. "Why, is it distracting you?"

"It's a distraction I'll gladly take," he said, turning his head to kiss her.

"Hey," Rick suddenly said behind them, making Jo instantly jump away from Matt. "That doesn't look like Chemistry homework."

"I um… did you hear Mom?" Jo asked, looking at her father.

"Jo," Rick sighed, crossing his arms.

"I'm serious. I heard her." She ran over to the stairs. "He's coming, Mom," she yelled up the stairs. "You should really go check on her. She might need something."

"Yeah, right," he muttered, shaking his head as he walked to the stairs. "I'll be back," he warned as he passed Jo at the bottom of the staircase.

She nodded, waiting until he was halfway up the stairs before running back over to Matt, sliding into him when her knees hit the hardwoods. She giggled, her head falling against his arm. "We have like ten minutes, maybe even more, he'll talk to my mom for a while."

"So what do you want to do for ten minutes?"

She smiled, shrugging one shoulder. "I don't know. I can go make us a snack or get a couple sodas or something."

"Or something," he whispered, leaning towards her.

No sooner than their lips touched, Rick came back down the stairs. He cleared his throat, making Jo jump away from her boyfriend. "Your mother was asleep." He looked at Matt. "You need to spend more time studying Chemistry and less time studying the inside of my daughter's mouth."

He walked behind the teenagers, grabbing both of Jo's arms and easily sliding her across the floor, leaving a couple feet of space between her and Matt. "Dad," she groaned.

"I think you're capable of doing homework without sitting on his lap. The only reason I'm not sending him home right now is because you need to finish your lab." He sat on the couch behind them, leaning forward so he was separating them. "Anything I can help with?"

"Don't you have writing to do?" Jo asked.

"That's true, I do. Thanks for reminding me, sweetie." He kissed the top of his daughter's head quickly before going back into his office.

Jo smiled as Rick disappeared into the room then looked at Matt. "So, where were we?" she asked as she scooted towards him.

"I think you were about a foot and a half away from him," Rick said.

"Dad," Jo whined, turning to look at her father as he walked back into the living room. "What about writing?"

"Amazing thing about technology, I can take my writing anywhere with me." He smiled and sat on the couch again with his laptop and began typing loudly then paused. "What's another word for castrate?"


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I own the kids. You know the thing

* * *

"What's wrong with your neck?" Luke asked during breakfast, looking at a dark spot on the side of Jo's neck. Rick and Alexis had left them alone for a few minutes, Rick was taking Kate's breakfast to her and Alexis was waking up Ethan.

She quickly slapped her hand over the bruise and used her other hand to brush her hair over one shoulder to cover it. "I uh… I burnt myself with my curling iron."

Ricky's eyes narrowed from across the table. "Do you have a hickey?"

"What's a hickey?"

"Eat your oatmeal, Luke," Jo told her brother. "Don't worry about it."

"It means Matt sucked on her neck," Ricky said.

"Was something on your neck?" Sara asked.

"No, stupid. They were making out."

"Ew," Sara said, scrunching up her face. "You kissed a boy?"

Jo laughed. "Yeah, he's my boyfriend."

"Do you have to _kiss_ him?"

"That's what boyfriends and girlfriends do."

"Boys are gross and they smell bad. I never want a boyfriend."

"You won't feel that way in a few years. They're not always gross, they actually start smelling really good when they get older."

Sara shook her head. "Ricky smells like poo."

"Some guys will always smell like poo, like Ricky."

"Hey!"

"But other guys, who know how to shower, smell like cinnamon and wood and peppermint."

Sara looked up at her big sister, blinking once before she shook her head once more. "I never want a boyfriend," she said again.

"That's fine by me," Rick said as he walked back into the kitchen, holding Ethan with Alexis behind them. "What's going on?" he asked as he put his grandson into the highchair next to the table.

"Matt gave Jo a hickey," Ricky said.

Rick raised one eyebrow, crossing his arms at his middle daughter while Alexis laughed behind him. "Moving your hair won't cover anything. Here, let's go to you room, I'll show you how to do your makeup to cover it up." She held her hand out to her sister.

Rick watched his two oldest daughters go upstairs together, unaware that his youngest had slid out of her seat and walked over to him until her nose poked into his arm. "You alright, pumpkin?"

Sara nodded, looking up at him. "Jo's right. Old boys do smell like cinnamon."

* * *

"I guess things with Matt have... progressed since a few days ago?" Alexis asked as she gathered Jo's makeup in her bedroom, deciding the best shades of concealer to mix for her skin tone.

Jo smiled, sitting down her desk chair and rolling herself over to Alexis. "He kind of ambush kissed me then he said he wanted to be my boyfriend so… we're dating only without the dating part."

"Turn your head like this," Alexis told her, demonstrating by bending her neck to one side to elongate the other side. Jo mimed her sister, pushing her hair off her shoulder as Alexis began applying makeup to her neck. "So you really like him then?"

"Yeah. His lips are so soft, Lex." She watched in the mirror as the bruise disappeared. "That's awesome. How did you learn this?"

Alexis smiled. "Actually, your mom taught me. You should talk to her about him."

Jo looked at her sister through the mirror. "I'd rather talk to you about him. You're cool about this kind of stuff. Mom would tell Dad and Dad would flip out again and then I wouldn't be allowed near Matt."

"In a few days, I'm not gonna be around so much anymore. She's good at talking about this kind of stuff too, you know. My mom wasn't around a lot when I was a teenager so when I needed a woman to talk to, I went to her."

"You went to her because she's not your mom. You can talk to her about stuff without worrying that she's gonna ground you for the rest of your life."

"She is not going to ground you for kissing a guy. I watched Dad go through a ton of women before he met her and to all of those women, I was just a kid who sometimes got in the way because he took me everywhere. To her, I was an adult even though I was only 15 because she understood the need to be accepted at that age. She understands a lot of things you think she won't."

"It's different though. Honestly, would you talk to your mom about guys?"

"I wish I could have. Your mom's great but she had just met me and Dad when I needed her. She spoke to me through her experiences, she didn't know me growing up and our lives weren't the same and as much as I like to try to keep up with you guys, I know our lives aren't the same. We were raised by the same man but in completely different homes," Alexis said, finishing up Jo's make up then sitting on her bed. "You've had your mom your whole life. She knows you, she knows what you'll need to hear."

"She's not home a lot though," Jo said, shrugging one shoulder as she turned in her chair to look at Alexis.

"And that might change soon. You know, she's not thinking about retiring because she's getting too old or because she doesn't like her job or even because she just got shot. She loves her job, but she loves you guys more. She wants to be there for you, you have to let her."

"It's just so weird. I feel like I'll start talking to her and she'll start crying because I'm her baby and I'm all grow up."

"Well, I have to admit, I'm trying really hard to be the cool big sister and help you hide hickeys but there are still times when I look at you and see the little girl who threw up on me when we went to Coney Island and you ate too many hotdogs."

Jo laughed, covering her face with one hand. "I can't help it that Nathan's hotdogs are awesome."

"You didn't have to eat twenty in an hour. Just remember what too much of a good thing too fast will do to you."


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: me no own

* * *

Jo ran up behind Matt at his locker, kicking the back of his knee so his leg gave out under him. He grabbed his locker door before he fell over as she laughed, leaning against the locker next to his.

"Alright, I get it," he said looking at her. "Getting snuck up on isn't fun. I'll stop. Even if it is adorable when you squeal like a pig."

Jo blinked as he kissed her cheek. "I'm gonna ignore you comparing me to an overweight farm animal because I think you were attempting to be funny."

"I am funny."

"Aw, baby. No." She rubbed his arm and shook her head. "Just a tip, never a good idea to call your girlfriend fat, especially when the relationship is only a week old."

"I did not call you fat. I said you make sounds like a pig when I sneak up on you. Pigs are adorable," he said as Jo raised her eyebrow, crossing her arms. "The little pink baby ones with the curly tails." She nodded silently, pursing her lips, her steel-blue eyes daring him to continue. "I… I'm gonna stop talking so you stop looking at me like that."

She smiled. "Good idea," she said, laughing. "Speaking of farm animals though, thanks for branding me." When he looked confused, she clarified. "You gave me a hickey. My little brother noticed it this morning."

Matt smiled, pushing her hair back. "I don't see anything."

"Alexis helped me cover it."

"You shouldn't cover it," he told her, putting his arm around her shoulders when the bell rang and they began walking to class. "Wear it like a badge. Like a medal of honor type thing."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? Marking your territory."

He shrugged. "So other guys know you're off the market? I wouldn't mind."

"Yeah, look at the line of football and hockey players lining up for a date with me."

"Well, you're always with me and they're scared of me."

She laughed. "Right, you're a terrifying man-beast. Should I worry about you with other girls?"

"No, I only have eyes for you."

"Please don't start singing."

He smiled and kissed her cheek quickly. "If you really want to mark your territory, you're more than welcome."

"Hmm," she hummed, leaning towards his neck. She nuzzled against his collarbone then pecked his neck quickly. "If you give me a reason to feel the need to, I'll kick you in the nads."

He blinked. "I'd rather just wear a sign on my forehead that says 'Jo's boyfriend'."

"Like I said, don't give me a reason."

"Well, what am I supposed to do if some other guy hits on you? You don't have parts as… sensitive as I do."

She rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't have to do anything because you have nothing to worry about. I like _you._" They stopped outside her class and she nudged him against the wall. "As long as it's you and me, it's just you and me. Us, that's it."

* * *

Jo peaked into her parents' bedroom as she passed the open door, seeing Kate sitting up in the bed against the headboard. She entered the room without knocking, throwing herself onto the foot of the king sized bed, her knees hanging off the edge.

"Hi, honey," Kate said, bemused as she looked at her daughter.

Jo inhaled deeply before she rolled onto her stomach, folding her arms under her head. "How did you know you were in love with Dad?"

"There's not one clear memory. I grew to love him, overtime. There was no wrecking ball moment like in the movies."

"Ok, but how did you know?" Jo asked, suddenly fascinated by a piece of lint on the blanket she was laying on. "I mean, what did you feel like?"

"I wanted to be with him and only him. Nothing else mattered. I just wanted him, I wanted him to be there with me through everything and I wanted to be there for him." She looked at Jo. "What's this about? I know you don't want to hear the story about how I fell in love with your father."

"Just curious. Cause it feels kind of like a breakdown."

"Jo, are you in love?"

"No. I don't know." She groaned. "It's only been a week but I feel like I'm going crazy. He's all I can think about. Like, I actually look forward to going to school because I know I'll see him and I know he'll say some stupid, goofy thing to make me smile no matter how bad of a day I'm having. Even when I'm with him, I miss him because I know we'll only get to spend a few minutes together. When I leave class, he's always there waiting for me, like he flew there. Or skipped class, which knowing him, he might."

"You know who Matt sounds like when you talk about him like that?"

Jo turned her head to look at her. "Who?"

"Your father," Kate told her with a smile. "He was always doing or saying some stupid thing to make me laugh. Or try to, at least. When we got married and had to stop working together, I missed him so much, even though I knew he was at home waiting for me to tell him all about the case I was working on. For a long time, when he wasn't there it was like part of me was missing but after a while it got easier because part of him was in me all along."

"Ok, the imagery that last part brought was gross." She shuttered. "Matt's nothing like Dad."

"A little boy trapped in a man's body, always making jokes that really aren't funny but you laugh anyway because of the way he smiles when you do. And he loves that he can make you smile on your bad days and if your day is so bad that you refuse to smile at him, you just give him this look, you know the look." Jo laughed then looked at her mother, her eyes narrow and scowling slightly. "Yep, that one. He sees that and he rams it into overdrive because it scares him and he never wants to see it again. You're thinking that sounds like Matt, right?"

"Yeah, exactly."

Kate shook her head. "Who I just described, is your father."

Jo looked horrified, blinking rapidly before she sat up. "Oh God, I'm dating a mini version of Dad."


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or the song featured in this chapter

* * *

Jo walked around the living room with Ethan in her arms, signing him songs from old Disney movies to try to get him to take a nap, when the doorbell rang. With Ethan on her hip, she went to answer the door, blinking when she saw Matt. "What are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too." Matt kissed her cheek quickly as he walked past her into the house and sat down on the couch in the living room.

"You can't be here. My parents are at a doctor's appointment and Alexis is out shopping. Do you realize how much trouble I can get into if they catch you here when no one's home?"

"We have supervision," he said, pointing to the two-year-old in Jo's arms.

"Well, he is more mature than you."

Ethan pressed his hand against Jo's neck, prompting her to look at him. "Sing 'gain, Jojo."

Matt smiled, turning to look at them over the back of the couch. "Yeah, sing again, Jojo."

She glared at her boyfriend before looking at her nephew again. "Maybe later." Ethan's bottom lip quivered, she shook her head. "You need to take your nap, little man."

"No! Sing 'gain!"

Jo bit the inside of her lip. "Fine," she finally groaned. "But you can't listen," she told Matt.

"Alright, I'll detach my ears."

She rolled her eyes. "One song and then you're taking a nap." Ethan nodded. "Alright" She cleared her throat, turning away from Matt, who was still watching her. "_A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you're fast asleep_," she began singing. Ethan rested his head against her shoulder, she ran her fingers through his hair. "_In dreams you will loose your heartache. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams and someday your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true." _ She smiled as the little boy began drifting off to sleep in her arms, she quickly kissed the side of his head and laid him in his pack-n-play in the corner of the room.

"You never told me you could sing," Matt said.

She turned to look at him and rolled her eyes. "I can't. It was the only way I could get him to calm down, except for watching that stupid show about the talking octopus or whatever that thing is. He needed to take a nap so he's not cranky during dinner."

He smiled. "You do have a great voice."

"Right, thanks. What are you doing here?"

"You know, you need to learn to take a complement."

"You weren't complementing me," she said, sitting on the couch next to him. "You're just trying to get to second base."

"No. Well, yes. But that's not why I said it."

She laughed, shaking her head. "Right. Are you ever gonna tell me why you're here?"

"Do I need a reason? Can't a guy miss his girlfriend and want to spend a Sunday afternoon with her?"

"You tell me."

He smiled, shrugging one shoulder before he began to lean in to kiss her, but was interrupted by her three younger siblings as they ran down the stairs.

"Whoa. Sorry," Ricky said with a chuckle as he walked into the living room.

Jo groaned, rubbing her forehead with one hand. "I thought you guys were playing upstairs."

"Sara wants to play princess," Luke said. "I want to play video games." He sat down in front of the TV, picking up one of the remotes to his video game console.

"I'm with him," Ricky told her, looking at Matt as he passed the couch. "You the dude?"

"I guess. I'm Matt."

"He's the dude," Luke said, not looking away from the TV.

Ricky raised an eyebrow, looking at his sister's boyfriend. "Let me ask you something. How can you stand kissing her? She only brushes her teeth like once a week."

"Ricky," Jo grunted, clinching her teeth.

"Never bothered me," Matt said putting his arm around her and kissing the side of her head quickly.

"Gross," both of the younger boys said simultaneously.

"Jo, will you play princess with me?" Sara said, walking up to the couch.

"Not right now, kiddo. I have to keep an eye on Ethan. Once Alexis gets home, alright?"

"I'll play with you," Matt told her.

"You don't have to do that," Jo said quickly before looking at her little sister again. "I'll play with you later."

Ignoring her sister, Sara looked at Matt. "You're a boy."

"So are your brothers, you tried to play princess with them." He stood up and bowed to the little girl, then kneeled down so he was at eye-level with her. "Besides, every princess needs a prince, right?" He held his arm out for Sara to take, she smiled and linked her arm through his.

As they reached the stairs, Sara let go of Matt and rushed back to Jo. "You're right. He does smell good," she whispered.

* * *

AN: short chapter is short. Been working crazy hours and I'm exhausted and I wanted to update before my job kills me so this chapter was kind of filler and... I don't know

AN 2: I really just wanted to get Jo singing out of my brain. For those who didn't see the link to the actors who I would want to play the kids I posted in chapter 2, Melissa Benoist would play Jo and she's an actress from Glee who has a killer voice. Don't worry, she won't be joining her glee club and singing ballads to Matt in the middle of Chemistry class. The singing was a one time thing


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle

AN: there's some strong language in this chapter, nothing I think is worth changing the rating over. It's mostly stuff you'd hear in a boy's locker room in high school (I'm assuming, I've never actually been in one)

* * *

"Yo, Grant, you're with that new chick right?" a football player in Matt's gym class, Drew, asked as the boys dressed after class. "Johanna."

"Jo," Matt told him with a shrug as he pulled his black gym shirt off, grabbing his other shirt off the bench and pulling it on. "She's not really new. She's been going here for over a month."

"Yeah, well you're the only guy in this school she'll even look at," Drew told him, making Matt smile. Drew sat down on the bench, facing him. "So what's she like?"

"She's really cool, funny…"

Drew shoved his shoulder. "Come on, man. We're all bros in here. She won't find out."

"Won't find out what?"

"Look, I know chicks like to keep shit like that private but come on, hot little thing like that she's gotta…"

"Don't talk about her like that," Matt said, standing up.

"Oh, did I strike a nerve? I guess someone isn't getting laid." Drew stood up, towering over Matt despite his nearly six foot tall height. "You know, ladies have needs too. If you can't provide for her, maybe she should get with a man who can."

Matt glared up at him. "You're not really her type."

"Really? Then I got a whole team of guys who would be more than willing to get the job done," Drew said, motioning to the group of boys behind him. "If the skinny nerdy thing turns her on, I think our second-string kicker is on the Matheletes."

"Look, you're outta line. Don't talk about my girlfriend like that."

"What are you gonna do about it?" Drew said, shoving Matt in the shoulder.

He stumbled backwards then looked up at the quarterback. Drew raised his eyebrows, waiting for Matt to make a move then laughed when he did nothing. "Yeah, you're really defending your girl. What a knight in shining armor." Drew sat down the bench, looking at Matt. "Free hit, man," he told him, pointing to his jaw. "I know you want to."

Matt clinched his fists, breathing deeply before he swung at Drew who easily caught Matt's fist then twisted his arm behind his back, putting him in a wrestling hold. A couple of the other boys laughed as they surrounded him.

* * *

Matt leaned against his locker, clutching his ribs, trying to catch his breath. He glanced down the hallway and saw Jo then forced himself to stand straighter, groaning softly.

"What the hell happened to you?" she asked as she got closer to him, touching his swollen and bloody lip.

He quickly licked the blood on his lip away. "We were playing dodge ball in gym class, I got nailed in the face."

"They seriously need to outlaw that game. I hope your team won."

"We got the shit beat out of us."

"Aww, my poor baby." She leaned up to kiss his lip softly, also noticing a small cut on his eyebrow and a bruise forming around his eye. "How big was this dodge ball?" She touched his side, making him wince. "What? What did I do?"

"Nothing. My lip just hurts."

"I barely touched your lip." She glanced down his body quickly, noticing the way he was standing and breathing. "What's wrong?"

"I told you, I got hit by a dodge ball."

"Three times?" She grabbed the hem of his shirt, lifting it to expose a large bruise beginning to form on his side. "What the hell happened? Don't tell me a dodge ball did that."

Matt quickly pulled his shirt down, glancing around the hallway. "Don't worry about it, alright?"

"I'm worried. We're going to the nurse." She grabbed his hand, pulling him in the direction of the nurse's office.

"Let's just go to lunch. I'll probably feel better after I eat something."

"Feel better? You can hardly stand. Eating isn't gonna make it better. What if something's broken?"

He inhaled deeply. "Nothing's broken."

"How do you know?" she demanded.

"I think I'd know if I had a broken bone."

"Don't snap at me. We're going to the nurse. Or I'll go get her and bring her to you. You need ice."

He sighed softly. "Fine." She returned to his side, putting her arm carefully around his waist as he put his arm around shoulders so she could lead him to the nurse's office.

Once there, Jo helped him onto a bed, holding onto his hand as the nurse got ice for him. "Is it only your ribs?" she asked, her lips against his fingers.

He nodded. "You think I'm that unlucky that I got hit by four dodge balls?"

"I only believed you when you said you got hit by one. Then I saw your eye and your side. Don't you dare try to get me to believe one ball hurt your lip and your eye."

"Do I have to tell you?"

She shook her head. "You don't have to. But I'll bother you until you do."

"Fine." He groaned as he sat up slightly. "I fell after I got nailed in the face then someone stepped on me."


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I don't own it

* * *

Matt closed his eyes as Jo disappeared from his bedroom to call her parents, laying back against his pillows with a low groan. She returned after a few minutes, along with a bag of ice and aspirin, putting her phone into her purse.

"I talked to my mom, told her what happened. She said I could stay as long as…" she trailed off when she noticed him seemingly asleep in his bed. "Matt." She jumped onto the bed next to him, holding his face in her hands. "No. Matt, open your eyes. You can't go to sleep. Please, don't go to sleep. Open your eyes, look at me."

He groaned again, opening his eyes, or as open as his swollen right eye would allow. "Ow. What? I'm tired."

"I know but the nurse said you might have a concussion. You shouldn't sleep."

"I don't have a concussion. I never hit my head."

"You fell hard enough that you were flat on the ground and someone stepped on you, but didn't hit your head?" she said, repeating the story he'd told her. "Please, tell me what happened."

"You'll be mad."

"I promise, I won't be."

He shook his head. "When do you have to be home? I don't want you to get in trouble."

"I called my mom and explained, I'll be here until your mom gets home from work."

He nodded, then coughed, clutching his side before resting his head against his pillows with a groan.

She turned her attention to his chest. "Can I see?" she asked, tugging on his shirt. He nodded and sat up slightly, struggling to get his shirt off until she helped him pull it over his head. "Matt," she gasped softly when she saw the ugly purple and red bruise that spanned nearly the whole left side of his torso.

"It looks worse than it is," he told her, laying down again.

"Right, that's why you can barely move." She gently touched the over-heated patch of skin, making him bite into his already hurt lip to keep from screaming. "Sorry. I'm sorry. Who did this to you?" She wrapped the ice in his shirt and placed it against the bruise.

"In gym class…"

"I told you, I don't buy that whole dodge ball story."

He shook his head. "Some guys in my gym class," he clarified. "They jumped me in the locker room."

"What? Why? How? Where was the coach?"

"I don't know."

"Well, we need to tell someone. The principle or... or the guidance counselor or something."

He shook his head. "They're football players. This isn't like your old school, no one's gonna get expelled and they aren't gonna suspend the starting QB. If anything, they'll get a slap on the wrist and I'll be the one suspended for fighting even though they had me in a headlock. Maybe I'm selfish, but I can't go without seeing you for two weeks."

She smiled, laying down next to him, careful not to put any pressure on his injuries. "I wouldn't know what to do without seeing you for two weeks either," she told him, running her fingers through his hair. She kissed his temple lightly then leaned her head against his shoulder. "So what was the fight about?"

"Nothing."

"So the football team just randomly decided to beat the crap out of you for no reason?"

"Not the whole team. Just like… four of them."

"Oh, only four?" She scoffed, shaking her head sarcastically. "I don't know why I'm so worried. It's not like they outnumbered you or held you down and took turns punching you."

"That's not what happened."

"You just said one of them had you in a headlock."

"Yeah, but I wasn't being held down and they didn't really take turns."

She rolled her eyes. "Stop trying to make jokes about this. This is serious. They could have killed you," she murmured, burying her face in the crook of his neck

He put his arm around her, placing a quick kiss against the top of her head. "I'm fine. You don't have to worry. It was a dumb fight, stupid locker room stuff."

She lifted her head to look at him. "No more stupid, dumb fights, alright?" She carefully touched his lip. "I like your face the way it is."


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I don't own it

* * *

"I can't believe you gave her permission to stay at Matt's all night," Rick mumbled as he and Kate prepared dinner.

"I didn't give her permission to stay all night," she told him, grabbing a knife to chop vegetables. "He's hurt, he needs someone to take care of him until his parents get home. Not everyone has the luxury of stay-at-home parents."

"They're alone at his house. They could be doing anything."

"She said he can hardly leave his bed."

"Yeah, that's the part I'm worried about."

Kate shook her head. "They're good kids, don't worry. Besides, you know how hard it is to do anything when you're injured. Trust me, nothing's going on there."

"I still don't like it."

"Yeah, yeah. You have to admit, things have been different since she started seeing Matt. She's not as angry about everything, she actually smiles. She's nicer to Luke, Ricky and Sara. She doesn't yell as much."

"As much," he stressed.

Kate laughed. "Well, we can't expect miracles, she's our daughter after all. You don't see the look in her eyes when she talks about him, the way she smiles when she hears his name. She's in love, Rick."

He raised his eyebrows. "Love? Kate, come on."

"I know, I know, they've only been dating for a few weeks but she's sixteen and everything moves at light speed at that age."

"In a few years, he won't even remember her name."

"You don't know that. I mean, maybe he won't and maybe in a few months they'll be broken up and they'll stop speaking to each other or maybe they'll be together for years. We don't know. Right now, all that matters is what she feels. You cannot tell me you weren't in love when you were sixteen."

He sighed, leaning on the counter, his chin resting on his hand. "Our little girl's all grown up, isn't she?"

She smiled. "We still have another one upstairs. We have a few good years there."

* * *

Jo sighed as she stuffed her backpack into her locker, tossing her phone into the front pocket. Matt was home for the remainder of the week, until his injuries healed a bit and she hated not being able to text him and ask him if he was feeling better or call him for a couple minutes between classes to hear his voice.

"No one as pretty as you should look that miserable," a voice behind her said.

She spun, looking up at the tall boy. "Do I know you?"

"No, my name's Drew Herrin."

She shook her head. "The quarterback. I do know you." She snuck around him, heading down the hall towards her class.

"Oh, so my reputation precedes me," he said, following close behind her.

"Do you even know what that means or did you just hear it in every movie ever created?"

"I… what?"

"Exactly." She stopped suddenly, turning to look at him. "The only reason I know who you are is because you beat up my boyfriend. Not really a good first impression."

Drew laughed. "Where is lover-boy anyway? Usually every time I see you, you have your tongue down his throat. Don't tell me you broke up."

"You've gotten sacked too many times for your brain to process information apparently. I just called him my boyfriend, so no, we aren't broken up. And he's home, he can't walk. Not that you care."

"Hey, he started it."

Jo rolled her eyes. "Seriously? You sound like my ten-year-old brother. I know he didn't start it, you don't have a mark on you."

"Cause I can actually take a hit, unlike your boy." He sped up so he was in front of her and stopped, putting his hand on the wall to block her path. "So how about you get with a real man?"

"Is that what you are, a real man? Restraining someone then ganging up on him, is that what men do?"

He shrugged one shoulder. "I can show you what men do," he said, leaning towards her.

She ducked away from him. "You are foul."

He turned to look at her as she walked away from him. "Whatever. Everyone knows you won't put out anyway."

"Excuse me?" she said, turning to look at him again, crossing her arms.

"Matt told all of us. No wonder he has so much pent up aggression," he told her as he walked to her, passing her this time. "Maybe if you took care of him, he wouldn't be getting himself hurt."

* * *

AN: I've probably changed Matt's appearance a few times since he was introduced, mostly because I never had an actor in mind for him when I created his character so I just started making up features as I went along. Basically what's stayed constant is that he has dark, curly-ish hair, he's sort of skinny and he's between 5'10" and six feet. Today I found the perfect Matt "actor": Max Irons. A manip of Max Irons and Melissa Benoist (Jo) is the cover picture for this now

AN 2: hyperlinks to the pictures of the Castle kids and Matt are in my profile now, for anyone curious


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I don't own it

* * *

Jo walked into Matt's bedroom, her backpack slung over her shoulder and one strap of his backpack in her hand. She tossed the dark green backpack onto his bed, startling him awake.

"Hey," he said, smiling at her.

"I can't stay. Just dropping off your homework," she told him, crossing her arms. "But since I'm here, I want to ask. That fight, 'stupid locker room stuff', was it about me?"

He opened and closed his mouth before he finally spoke. "No. Of course not."

"Don't lie to me, Matt. Did you get in a fight because I won't sleep with you?"

"What?" he said, this time instantly. "No."

"We've only been dating a few weeks and we never talked about it," she said as if she didn't hear him deny it. "It's not really fair to me for you to complain about me not 'putting out'," she said, using air quotes around the last two words.

"What are you talking about? I never complained about anything."

"That's not what Drew said."

"Drew? You talked to Drew? And you're believing him over me?"

"Well, you won't tell me anything other than vague details and you said the other day I'd be mad if I found out what really happened."

"Fine. The fight was about you."

She ran her hands through her hair, shaking her head. "You asshole."

"Listen to me, please?" he said, sitting up and reaching for her hand. She crossed her arms again, raising her eyebrows expectantly. "Drew and those guys, they wanted… details about you. About… how you… are."

"So they punched you?"

"They punched me when I got in Drew's face. I wanted him to stop talking about you like that."

"You should have just let them talk then. I don't care what anyone thinks about me."

"Well, I do. I love you, I'm not gonna let a bunch of jerks…"

"What did you just say?"

He blinked. "I uh… what?"

She smiled, biting her bottom lip as she sat on the edge of his bed. "Did you just say you love me?"

He grinned. "Maybe."

She placed her hand against his chest, leaning over him to kiss him softly. "Good," she whispered. "Cause I love you too."

* * *

Jo smiled as she walked through the front door of her house, biting on her thumbnail as she turned for the stairs, not bothering to look into the living room.

"You're late," Rick said, standing up from his armchair to face his daughter.

She paused mid-step, turning to look at her father. "I told you, I was gonna drop off Matt's homework for him."

"That was four hours ago." He crossed his arms. "How long did it take you to give him his books?"

"We kind of had a fight."

Rick blinked, shaking his head. "A fight? You… you look happy."

Jo couldn't help letting out a quick laugh as she shrugged. "Well, we made up. Everything's even better than it was before."

"I guess he still can't leave his bed?"

"Dad, you know what happened. Do you really expect him to be perfectly fine two days later?"

"No. What I'm concerned about is what happened in his bed while you two were… making up."

Jo rolled her eyes. "Dad, gross. I have homework."

"Hey, hey," he called as she started going up the stairs. "Get back here. Sit down."

She sighed, dropping her backpack at the foot of the steps as she walked to the living room and sat on the couch.

"I know you like Matt."

"Dad, I love him."

Rick let out a low groan. "You and your mother need to stop using that word."

"That's not fair. You make me talk to you and when I'm honest and tell you how I feel, you just ignore it because it's not what you want to hear."

"I'm not ignoring it. I know you think you love him…"

"I do love him."

"You really aren't making this easy, Jo," he said, rubbing his eyes.

"You're the one who wanted to talk. I can't help it if you don't like what I'm saying."

"Alright. White flag's up. I'm calling a truce. Your mom and I talked about you and Matt, we're going to give you full phone privileges back."

Jo smiled widely. "Seriously? Thank you." She got up to quickly hug her father.

"Don't thank me yet. You're still grounded. One step out of line, you're Amish."

She nodded silently, sitting on the couch again.

"And we want to meet him."

"What? You've met him like ten times."

"I mean, we want to have dinner with him. If he's really this important to you, your mother and I need to meet him properly."

She blinked, opening and closing her mouth. "Now?"

"When he's feeling better. And now you can call him and tell him."

Jo groaned. "I'd rather you throw my phone against the wall again."


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: you know the thing

* * *

"I got it," Jo yelled as she ran down the stairs when the doorbell rang. "I got it. I got it!" She fell over the last couple steps, nearly falling against her father as he walked to the door. "Dad, stop." She quickly stepped between him and the door, leaning back against the frame.

"Oh, you got it? You sure?"

"Dad, please!"

Rick sighed then nodded. "Alright, alright. Big smiles." He grinned widely.

Jo opened her mouth then closed it again before shaking her head and opening the door. "Hey," she said, smiling at Matt, who was standing on the front porch wearing a button up shirt instead of his normal crew neck tee.

The bruising around his eye and mouth had mostly faded and the swelling on his side had gone down considerably, so he was able to stand and move without assistance but was still uncomfortable when he sat in one position for too long.

He smiled at her, leaning forward to kiss her until she stepped back, motioning to her family in the living room behind her. "Right," he mumbled, kissing her cheek instead.

"Did you actually comb your hair?" she asked, looking at his typically unruly hair combed into submission.

He laughed, taking off his jacket and tossing it over the arm of the couch before putting his arm around her. "Well, this is a special occasion. Speaking of a special occasion, I have something for you in my car."

"Is it gonna blow up on me?"

"Well, it shouldn't. No promises though."

She put her arm around his waist as they followed her family into the dining room. "I have to admit, I'm intrigued."

He smiled. "Good." He grabbed her hand as her parents and siblings all turned into the room, pulling her to a stop and kissing her.

Rick cleared his throat behind them. "I didn't realize the dinner your mother and I spent all day cooking is on Matt's face."

Jo groaned softly, leading Matt into the dining room. They sat next to each other on one side of the table with Jo's siblings on the other side and Kate and Rick on at the heads of the table.

"Hey, Matt," Ricky said suddenly as they began eating. "Has Jo ever burped in your face while you two are kissing? Cause she has this gas problem…" He grunted, cutting himself off when Jo kicked him in the shin.

"She does have a problem," Rick agreed. "Kate, remember when she was a baby and she'd always get these little gas bubbles? It's why we don't let her drink soda."

"Dad!" Jo yelled while Kate silently shook her head.

Matt smiled, squeezing Jo's hand under the table.

"Have you ever smelled her feet?" Luke asked.

"I can't say I have," Matt told him, rubbing circles on the back of Jo's hand with his thumb. "But if you're gonna tell me she has a fungus, I already know she doesn't. She's worn sandals to school."

Ricky hit Luke in the shoulder. "I told you, mention the fungus first."

* * *

Jo walked with Matt to his car, her arm linked through his as they crossed the front lawn to where he parked. "Close your eyes," he told her as he unlocked the car and reached into the glove box.

She crossed her arms. "You couldn't promise me it won't blow up. I'm not closing my eyes."

"It won't blow up. Close your eyes."

She shook her head. "I love you but I don't trust you."

He smiled. "Fine. Ruin the surprise."

She watched him pull out a small white jewelry box, holding it in the palm of his hand. "Whoa," she said, taking a step back. "No. No."

"You don't even know what it is."

"No. If you're gonna propose, don't. I'm only 16 and my dad's probably watching and he's gonna kill you."

He blinked at her. "Will you calm down? It's not a ring."

"Oh." She frowned. "Well, good."

He laughed. "Maybe someday, in a few years. Who knows?"

"Maybe," she said with a giggle. "If it's not a ring, what is it?"

"Well, technically I shouldn't give it to you until tomorrow. Maybe I'll wait."

"No, I want it now," she told him then shook her head. "Sorry. I mean, what's tomorrow?"

He raised his eyebrows. "You don't know?"

She shook her head again, shrugging.

"Well, one month ago tomorrow I asked you to be my girlfriend."

"Don't you mean a month ago, you attacked me at my locker and kissed me then you called me your girlfriend?"

He shrugged. "My way sounds more romantic. And since you forgot our one month anniversary, you don't get to make fun of me for the way I asked you out."

"I didn't forget. I just didn't realize we were making it a thing."

"Well, I'm not suggesting we celebrate every month because I can't afford to buy you jewelry that often. From now on, I'm reserving presents for when I screw up and yearly anniversaries."

"Since by definition anniversaries should be annual, I agree with that. And it's good to know you expect to screw up enough that I'll need jewelry to forgive you."

"I like thinking ahead."

"Alright, seriously. What did you get me? It's freezing," she told him, rubbing her arms.

He smiled and shrugged out of his jacket, draping it around her shoulders then opened the box to show her the necklace settled inside. A thin silver chain with a tiny diamond accented crown pendant dangling off the end.

She hugged his jacket tighter around her, smiling when she saw the necklace. "It's beautiful. Thank you." She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him quickly before he stepped behind her to help her put it on. "I love it," she said, touching the charm as it fell against her chest.

"Good, I'm glad. Just never forget you're my princess." He glanced towards the house, noticing a large shadow standing in the living room window. "I think your dad wants me to leave."

Jo looked over her shoulder, waving to her father. She sighed when he didn't move then looked back at Matt.

"I should go anyway. It's getting late."

She nodded, beginning to take his jacket off but he stopped her, tightening it around her again.

"Don't. Keep it. It looks better on you anyway."


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I don't own it

* * *

Jo crossed her arms as she and Kate watched Rick, Sara, Ricky, Luke and Matt playing Rock Band on Rick's old PlayStation from the entrance to the living room. Rick and Ricky both played guitar, Luke was on bass, Matt sat on the couch behind the electronic drum set while Sara sang.

"Isn't this game from before I was born?" Jo asked.

Kate nodded. "You know your father takes good care of his games. He's probably happy he finally has a drummer who can keep a good beat."

Jo smiled, biting her lip. "I'm just glad they finally found a common ground." She winced when Matt hit a wrong note, causing Rick to briefly look away from the television to glare at him. "Or not."

Kate put her arm around her daughter. "They have you in common. Time for dinner," she said, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear her. "Matt, are you staying?"

The rest of Castle family ignored her while Matt stopped playing to look up at Kate. "Uh, if that's alright."

"Matt. Matt," Rick said as the teenager missed several notes. "Matt! Matthew!"

Matt jumped, turning back to the drum set as the song ended. He scrambled to hold one of the drumsticks correctly and hit one of the cymbals as the last note played. The kids all put down their instruments and followed Kate into the kitchen while Rick, the toy guitar still around his neck, turned to look at Matt.

"Honey," Kate said, poking her head out of the kitchen. "Will you help me set the table?"

Rick grunted as he took the guitar off and put it in the pile where Ricky and Luke had left theirs. Matt put the drumsticks into their holder on the side of the drum set before turning to look at Jo.

"Just when he was starting to like me," he mumbled.

She laughed. "Well, he doesn't let just anyone play his video games. He must trust you."

"Hopefully he already does. I mean, he should trust me to take care of you, right?"

She shook her head. "When I was ten I broke a laser tag gun and he never forgave me. I don't short circuit when someone spills milk on me and if I need to, I can get myself into an airtight chamber. You're not a blood relative and he let you play Rock Band. That's like the equivalent of giving you his kidney."

"He doesn't really have an airtight chamber for his video games, does he?"

Jo nodded. "In the basement. It has an X-Box, a Wii, the PlayStation and pretty much every game ever released, including something called Super Monkey Ball. My mom's not even allowed down there."

* * *

"I think Dad has a man-crush on Matt," Jo mumbled as she helped her mother clean up after dinner.

Kate laughed. "He's getting to know your boyfriend. Be happy he's finally accepting him."

"I only get so much time with him away from school to begin with and now Dad's hanging out with him while he's here."

"He's here a lot, Jo. Are you sure you sure you didn't move him in and forget to tell us?"

"Hardly. He's here on weekends and sometimes after school if we have Chem homework. If you'd let me actually go out…"

"Johanna, don't start," Kate said sternly.

"Sorry. I'd just like to spend some time with him before he has to go home."

"I guarantee that boy will be back tomorrow morning and will be eating breakfast here, just like he did last Saturday."

Jo shrugged. "He likes your cooking."

"Yeah, that's not all he likes. Come on, let's see if we can tear our boys away from their games."

They walked into the living room, where Rick and Matt were both sitting over a disassembled game system. "What are you doing?" Jo asked.

"It's guy stuff. Don't worry about it," Rick said offhandedly. "Don't you two have dishes to finish or something?"

"Guy stuff?" Jo repeated.

"Dishes?" Kate asked, crossing her arms. "Rick."

He looked up at his wife, who was looking at him with her trademark Look, with Jo in an identical stance. "Oh God, they're both doing it," he mumbled.

Matt looked up then swallowed hard when he saw them. "Uh… what do we do?"

"I don't know. This has never happened. How about we split up, I'll take the big one, you take the little one."

"I'm sorry, the big one?" Kate said.

"I… I didn't mean big like… big. I meant old… er." Kate's eyes narrowed, Rick looked at Matt. "You talk now."

Matt shook his head. "Hey, we agreed. She's your problem."

"Which makes me your problem?" Jo wondered.

"Yeah. I mean… no. No. You… you're not a problem. You're the opposite of a problem." He blinked as Jo stared silently at him. "I should… should I… I'm gonna go."

Rick watched Matt as he left through the front door before he looked back at his wife and daughter. "I'll finish the dishes," he said.

Jo laughed as her father went into the kitchen. "I like that game."

* * *

AN: sorry if this chapter sucks. I wanted to bring Rick and Kate back so it doesn't turn completely into a Jo/Matt story even though it basically already is. Those two have taken over my brain.


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle

AN: this chapter kind of cements the T rating. Yep

* * *

Jo laughed against Matt's lips as his hand tunneled under the back of her shirt. She'd left the house early in the morning to go to school but once she'd gotten to campus, she found out the school was closed because of a plumbing problem and instead of making the hour long taxi ride back home, she went to Matt's.

"Having fun back there?" she asked, breaking the kiss to look at him.

"I just feel like any minute your phone's gonna ring and it'll be your parents and you'll get grounded. Again. You know, it was on the news about that toilet blowing up."

She rested her head against his shoulder. "My parents don't watch the news. It makes my mom miss murders." Matt turned his head to look at her, one eyebrow raised. "Solving them," she clarified. "I mean, I think she likes being at home with us but… she misses it. I don't want to make this all about my parents though. We finally have the whole day to ourselves, no homework to worry about, no little brothers and sisters coming to bother us, no crazy parents. We can just be together."

He smiled, hugging her against him. "So what do you want to do?"

She shrugged then kissed him again.

"Mmm," he said against her lips. "I like this plan."

"I thought you would," she whispered. "Do you have a um…" she trailed off, biting her thumbnail.

"A what?"

"Condom," she said quietly.

His eyes widened as he sat up slightly. "Really? You want to?"

She nodded silently, biting her lip.

"I uh… yeah. I have one. Somewhere." He glanced quickly around the room then scrambled off the bed. "I'll find it. You… stay there."

* * *

Matt turned his head to look at Jo, who was laying silently next to him, staring up at the ceiling. "Hey," he said, leaning up on his elbow.

She glanced at him quickly. "Hi," she muttered, one of her arms crossed over her stomach to keep the sheets in place over her chest.

"Are you ok?"

She nodded, biting her fingernail. "Yeah. Sure. Why?"

"You're just being really quiet. You're never this quiet."

She shrugged one shoulder. "I just don't have a lot to say."

He opened his mouth then closed it again before speaking. "Do… do you wish we hadn't?"

"No," she said hesitantly. "I don't know."

"What does that mean? You're the one… you wanted to."

"I did," she agreed, nodding. "And then… I didn't."

"Well… why didn't you say something? You could have told me to stop and I would have. You know I would have stopped."

"You were kind of already done by then," she muttered. She sat up, holding his bed sheet over her chest as she searched his bedroom floor for her clothes.

"Jo," he said softly. "Will you stop? Just… stop. Let's just calm down and talk, alright?"

"I don't know what there is to say. Do you know where my shirt is?"

He glanced at the pile of discarded clothes on his side of the bed then looked towards the small pile next to her side. "Right here." He leaned over her to get her shirt off the floor.

She tensed when his chest touched her bare back. "I got it," she told him.

He held up both of his hands as he sat down again. He quickly grabbed her jeans off the floor and tossed them to her then leaned against the headboard. "Do you want to go get something to eat?"

"Yeah, no. I'm not hungry. I think I should just go." She nodded. "I'm gonna go home."

He ran a hand through his hair, looking at the clock next to his bed. "Your parents aren't expecting you back for hours."

"I'm a writer's daughter. I'll make something up. Don't worry, I'll leave you out of it."

"Alright," he said softly. "I love you. You know that, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Me too." She closed her eyes as he leaned over to kiss her cheek and touched his leg briefly then yanked her hand away. "Bye."

"See you tomorrow," he said as she walked out of the room.

"Right," she mumbled. "Bye."

* * *

AN: this chapter was really awkward for me to write. Something needed to happen eventually, Rick's been worried about this since chapter one and Matt and Jo were just floating along in their happy little couple bubble and those bubbles always pop one way or another


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: I don't own it

* * *

"Jo." Kate knocked on her daughter's bedroom door. "Time for school. Get up." She waited for a response but when none came, she knocked again. "Jo, are you alright?"

"No," Jo's muffled voice said from inside the room.

Kate opened the door and looked at Jo, who was laying on her stomach, clutching her pillow against her. "What's wrong?"

"I feel like I'm gonna puke," she muttered.

Kate crossed the room and sat on the edge of Jo's bed. She softly brushed the hair out of her face then laid a hand against her forehead. "You don't have a temperature. What's going on? Is there a test you didn't study for or an essay you didn't finish?"

Jo shook her head, not moving from her position on her bed.

"Does this have anything to do with why you hardly said a word during dinner last night?"

She nodded, sitting up slowly, clutching her pillow to her chest, her face scrunched up as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I messed up, Mom."

Kate quickly put an arm around Jo, pulling her into a hug. "It's ok," she said, running a hand through her hair. "Tell me what happened. Whatever it is, we can fix it."

Jo shook her head against Kate's shoulder. "I slept with Matt," she blurted.

"You… what? When?"

"Yesterday… when I came home early. School was cancelled and I went Matt's and we…"

Kate nodded slowly, taking in everything she was telling her. "Did he… make you?"

"No. No, it was my idea. I thought... but then… it was so awkward and it hurt and I just wanted to cry. I had no idea what to do with my feet."

"Your feet?" Kate couldn't help letting out a quick laugh. "I'm sorry. It's gonna be ok, baby. I promise." She kissed the side of Jo's head, rocking her gently. "Talk to me. What happened? Did you… were you safe?"

"Yeah, he wore a condom. I… we were making out and I wanted to. I did. And then everything just happened so fast and it was over. I felt so disconnected from him even though we just…" She sighed softly, shaking her head. "He wanted to talk about it but I just had to get out of there. I couldn't… I can't look at him."

Kate nodded. "You can stay home from school today, try to relax and regroup, but you have to go back tomorrow."

"Can't I just transfer?"

"That would require telling your father what happened, which I don't think you want to do."

"Oh God, he's gonna kill Matt."

"He won't if he doesn't find out. I don't want his head to explode so we don't have to worry about that but you can't hide from Matt forever. He's probably just as scared and confused as you are and you're connected to him now, in a way you'll never be with another guy."

Jo sniffled against Kate's shoulder. "Well, I'm never doing it again."

Kate let out a quick laugh. "Oh, honey, you're so young and first times are almost always bad. It's never what you expect. Movies and TV shows lie, there's never scented candles and rose petals but it does get better."

"I doubt it."

"It does. It won't hurt as bad eventually and you'll figure out what to do with your feet."

"Don't tease me," she hiccupped.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. But, I promise, it will get better. Someday, maybe in a few years, when you're ready, really ready, it'll be great."

* * *

Matt carefully approached Jo at her locker, his hands in his pockets. He stood silently next to her until she looked up to acknowledge his presence. "You're still wearing my jacket," he said, pointing out her choice of outerwear, the too-long sleeves covering her hands then noticed the silver chain hanging around her neck. "And the necklace. I'm hoping that's a good sign."

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't come to school yesterday and you didn't answer my calls or any of my texts. I thought… I don't know what I thought."

She nodded slowly. "We need to talk." She turned to look at him, leaning back against her locker. She crossed her arms, tightened the jacket around her.

He watched her chew her bottom lip silently. "Say something," he pleaded softly. "You want to talk… talk."

She inhaled deeply. "We made a mistake. I don't want to... do it anymore."

"Like… ever?"

"Not never. Maybe. I don't know. Not anytime soon."

He nodded silently as she spoke.

"Look, if that's a problem for you…"

"No." He shook his head quickly. "No. If you don't want to, we won't. Was it really that bad though?"

"I don't wanna talk about it. Just thinking about it makes me want to puke." She took the jacket off, hanging it up in her locker then gathered her books.

"Oh. So… you really hated it?"

"I didn't _hate_ it. I just… it was weird, wasn't it?"

"It wasn't that weird. I mean, I liked it."

She couldn't help smiling, lifting one hand to cover her mouth. "You did?"

He shrugged, nodding. "I thought that was pretty obvious."

"Oh, yeah," she muttered as the bell rang. "I should get to class."

He nodded. "I'll walk you."

"No, it's ok. I know where it is. You should be on time for once."

"Yeah, sure." He leaned forward to kiss her but she ducked out of the way. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she told him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him quickly. "I'll see you later, alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, alright," he mumbled, watching her as she walked away.


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle

* * *

Rick paused on the final step as he walked down the stairs when he saw Jo sprawled on the living room couch, the television remote in her hand as she clicked through channels. He stood silently behind the couch, watching as five seconds of various Saturday morning cartoons and new shows flickered on and off the screen.

"Looking for something in particular?" he finally said, making the girl jump.

"Everything that's on sucks."

"There's three-thousand channels, I'm sure you'll land on one you like eventually. What time should we expect Matt?"

She shook her head. "He's not coming over."

Rick looked sideways at her. "He hasn't been here for days. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," she nodded slowly, looking up at her father. "We're just… slowing things down. I mean, we don't need to see each other everyday."

"Well, maybe that's for the best. You shouldn't invest all your time in one person. That's when you start making mistakes." Jo curled herself into a ball as her father spoke, sitting next to her on the couch. "And before you know it, you'll be following him around, getting shot at and writing a series of novels about him to imagine the relationship you wish you had."

She blinked. "Right."

"What I mean is, you should try to make some new friends. Friends other than Matt."

"I have friends," she said defensively.

"Like who?"

"Like… Sara."

"Your sister doesn't count. I'm talking about friends your own age, kids you go to school with. Non-male friends."

Jo groaned. "I don't get along with other girls."

"That's because you're too pretty and they're all jealous of you. I know how hard it is being the new kid at school but you've been there for a couple of months now. You should put yourself out there, join a team."

"Dad, have you ever seen me run?"

"Right. A club then."

"Yeah, because what I want to do is stay an hour after school everyday to sing show tunes."

"Well, I do think you have a great voice but your school also has a creative writing club."

"If I want to write, I can write here. I just want to get through the next couple years and graduate in one piece, that's all."

Rick scooted over and put his arm around Jo. "You're growing up so fast, you know that? Seems like just yesterday, you were learning to ride your bike without training wheels and I had to hold the back of the seat to help you balance. You kept falling over and your arms and legs were so scratched up. You even had cuts on your face. Then one day, I was holding on and you started pedaling. I let go and you didn't even realize it, you just rode away from me while I ran to keep up with you. You've never stopped pedaling away from me."

"Sorry," she muttered.

"Don't be." He squeezed her shoulder quickly. "I know, I'm an old man and it's no fun hanging out your dad. It's just hard admitting to myself that you're not my little girl anymore."

"Yeah, I am," she told him, her voice small. "I'll always be your little girl."

* * *

Jo groaned softly as her cell phone chimed on her bedside table. She rolled over, ignoring the text alert and the two that followed until it started ringing. She blinked as she finally picked up her phone, her eyes adjusting to the bright screen until she made out the picture on the display. She pressed the button to answer and held the phone to her ear. "Matt?" she asked, laying down again. "It's the middle of the night. What's wrong?"

"I have to talk to you," he said. "You've been avoiding me for days."

"I'll talk to you at school on Monday."

"I can't wait until Monday. Come outside."

"Outside?" She rolled out of bed to look out her window, staring at the darkened car parked on the street then sighed when the headlights flashed. She hung up her phone and tossed it onto her bed then left her bedroom, quietly walking past her siblings' and parent's bedroom then moved carefully down the stairs, jumping over the final step that had a tendency to creak.

She grabbed the large jacket she'd become accustomed to wearing out of the closet near the door and pushed her arms through the sleeves then slipped on her sneakers before she went outside, crossing the front lawn to Matt's car.

She heard the lock click and he pushed the passenger side door open for her. She slid into the seat and closed the door, leaning her head against the backrest then jumped when she heard the lock click again. "Are you gonna kidnap me or something?"

He shook his head. "I just want to talk. Every time I've tried you tell me you need to get to class or you can't talk in school, you don't answer your phone."

"I just did, that's how you got me out here."

"For the last week you've been ignoring all my calls and texts. This is the only way I know I can get you to talk."

"You know I can unlock the door, right? Unless you're planning on driving somewhere, which is considered kidnapping."

"You can leave," he told her. "If you do, I'll leave you alone. I'll transfer out of our Chemistry and English classes, I'll ask for a new locker assignment. You'll never have to see me again."

"I don't want that," she said softly.

"Then stop acting like you do. You're acting like we're already broken up and if we are, you could at least let me know."

"I don't want to break up."

"Good. Me either. Can you talk to me though, stop avoiding me?"

"I'm sorry. I was just scared. I was scared you wouldn't like me anymore or that you'd want to be with a girl who would…"

"Well, I don't like you, I love you. And I don't want to be with anyone else." He reached over to squeeze her hand softly. "When you're ready again, I'll be there, if still you want me."

She put her head on his shoulder, smiling against his arm. "I'll always want you," she whispered.


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle

* * *

Jo sat at the kitchen table with her siblings, her head in one of her hands until Rick leaned over her to put a plate on the table in front of her. "Oh, gross," she gagged. "What's that smell?"

"Pancakes," Rick told her with a shrug.

"No, did you like take a bath in your cologne today or something?" she asked, holding a hand over her nose and mouth.

Rick sniffed his shirt quickly then shrugged.

"I think you smell good, Daddy," Sara said. He smiled and kissed Sara's head quickly.

"I'm not hungry," Jo mumbled, pushing the plate away from her. "My stomach hurts."

"Didn't you have a stomach ache a couple weeks ago?" Rick asked, putting a hand against her forehead. "You should be over that by now."

Behind them, Kate dropped a glass of milk she'd gotten for Sara, sending milk and broken glass across the kitchen floor. She stared at her oldest daughter for a moment, her mouth hanging open, not realizing what she'd done until Luke ran over to help her clean up.

"Oh, baby… honey, no. You'll cut yourself," she said, speaking like she was in a trance.

"Here, I'll clean it," Rick offered. "Go sit." He put a hand on Luke's shoulder, keeping him away from the broken glass. "You too," he added, looking at his wife. "Are you alright?"

Kate nodded. "I think I should go lay down for a while," she said, motioning to the living room. "Jo, can I talk to you?"

Jo nodded, following her mother out of the kitchen. Once they were out of earshot of Rick and the other kids, Kate turned to look at her, both hands covering her mouth.

"Johanna, please. Please, tell me you're not pregnant," she whispered.

Jo blinked. "What? No. I'm just not feeling good and Dad stinks."

Kate released a breath, sitting down on the couch. "When was the last time you had your period?"

"Sometime last month," she said with a shrug.

"Think, Jo. How many weeks?"

"Mom, seriously, I think I'd know if I was pregnant," she whispered, glancing towards the kitchen quickly before sitting down next to her. "I can't be."

"Two weeks ago, you told me you had sex. Now you have an upset stomach and your father's cologne bothers you. Sometimes symptoms only take a couple weeks to start."

"Again, he stinks and it's probably just something I ate at school. You know, Mystery Meat Monday."

"It bothered me too when I was pregnant with you guys," Kate told her.

Jo's face went white as she shook her head. "No," she muttered. "No. I'm not. No. We were… he wore a…"

"Calm down," Kate said softly, putting an arm around her. "I'll go out and pick up a test while you're at school."

Her eyes widened. "School. Matt. Oh God, what am I gonna tell Matt?" she asked, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "We're just getting back into a good place."

Kate shook her head. "Nothing. You don't need to tell Matt anything. Not until you know for sure."

Jo let out a quick laugh. "Must be nice being a guy," she muttered, pulling her knees up to her chest. "They never have to worry getting pregnant."

* * *

Jo slowly lifted her head off her lab table after the bell rang in her Chemistry class. She slid off the metal stool she'd spent the hour concentrating on not falling off of and walked shakily out of the room with Matt close behind her.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked, putting an arm around her as he fell into step with her. "You look like you're gonna pass out."

"Thanks," she muttered, putting her head against his shoulder. "I'll be fine. I'm just… tired. I was up all night studying for a test in Algebra."

He nodded, rubbing her back. "That's not until this afternoon. Why don't you go take a nap in the nurse's office for a couple hours?"

"That's probably a good idea," she agreed. She stopped walking, turning to look at him. "You love me, right?" she asked, resting her hand in the crook of his elbow, her fingers touching the hair on his arm.

"You know I do."

"No matter what?"

"Yeah. No matter what," he repeated. "What's going on?"

"Nothing. I'm just really nervous about this test."

He laughed. "Don't be. You're gonna rock it, alright? Even if you fail, I will still love you. And I'll help you study for the next one." He kissed her forehead quickly then took her hand, tugging her in the direction of the nurse's office. "Come on, I'll hold your hand until you fall asleep."

* * *

AN: don't kill me! There's a reason I'm doing this and there's a reason I'm doing this now. Just trust me and hang with me for a few more chapters. I love you guys!


	30. Chapter 30

AN: a lot of you guys asked for longer chapters but I honestly don't think it'll happen. With the way my work schedule is and will be getting closer to Christmas, I only have a few hours a day to write and if I wrote long chapters I would never update. This chapter is a little longer than normal but only because there's a lot of people yelling

AN2: I decided a while ago how this arc of the story would turn out. Some of the reviews from the last chapter did have me thinking about where I wanted to take this and I had a few alternate ideas but I decided to stay with what I was originally planning

* * *

Jo laid across the foot of her parents' bed, her head on Kate's lap as she ran a hand through her hair. Both of Jo's hands were on her stomach as she looked up at the ceiling. "This is the longest five minutes of my life," she groaned. "Why does it take twice as long to find out if you're pregnant than it took to get pregnant?"

"I think that's the same question millions of women before you asked."

Jo closed her eyes. "What am I gonna do? I can't be a mom, I'm only 16. I'm still in high school. I want to go to college. Prom's in five months, I'm gonna be so fat!"

"Well, whatever you want to do, I'll always be here for you. Just remember, everything is your choice. Not mine or your father's or Matt's."

"I think I might throw up again. I think the nurse at school was probably expecting my head to start spinning."

"Were you sick all day?" Kate asked softly, Jo nodded. "It might just be nerves."

"I hope so."

The alarm Kate had set in the bathroom finally went off, Jo sat up slowly and looked at the door. "You ready?"

Jo shook her head. "Can you do it for me?"

Kate rubbed her back softly. "How about we do it together?"

Jo nodded then walked with her mother into the bathroom. She stood in the doorway for a moment then slowly approached the counter. "I can't look," she said, freezing halfway across the room.

Kate walked over and looked at the test then to her daughter. "Johanna, come here."

Her stomach sank as she walked shakily over to Kate and looked at the test in her mother's hand. "Oh my God," she gasped, sinking down to the floor.

"It's ok," Kate said softly. "It's ok. You're not pregnant."

Jo ran both of her hands through her hair. "I was so scared…"

"I know. So was I." Kate tossed the test into the trash, pulling some tissues out of the box on the counter and crumpling before tossing them into the trashcan to cover it. "I really hope you learned something from this."

"Yeah, now I'm certain I'm never having sex ever again."

Kate laughed. "We already had this talk and I do want grandchildren someday."

"You already have Ethan and you have three other kids if you really want grandkids of your own."

"Honey, I've seen the way you are with Ethan and your brothers and sister, you'll be a great mother. Thankfully, you don't need to be one yet and we're going to make sure you won't be one until you're ready."

"What's that mean?"

"First of all, you're going on the pill."

"Is that necessary?"

"Yes," she said instantly. "Just as a precaution. Second, we're going to the doctors. I'll call tomorrow and make an appointment."

"I don't need to see a doctor. I told you, I probably just have a stomach ache cause of that crap they feed us at school."

Kate nodded. "Either way, you need a check up and you need a prescription for the pill."

"Alright," Jo finally agreed. "At least I don't have to tell Matt he's gonna be a daddy."

* * *

"Kate," Rick called from their master bathroom. She looked up from the book she was reading as he walked into the bedroom, holding the negative pregnancy test in a tissue. "Do you want to explain this?"

She blinked at him. "Did you go through the trash?"

"I knocked your hairbrush off the counter, it went into the trashcan and when I got it, I saw this. What I'm wondering is why you would think you're pregnant when I had a vasectomy four years ago."

"I… what? It's not mine."

"It's not… who else would be using our bathroom?"

"Is that really important?"

"Come on, Kate, the test is negative. You can tell me. Did Lanie think she's pregnant? Or Jenny?"

She shook her head silently.

"Alexis?" he asked with a smile. "Are Alexis and Derek trying again?"

"Not that I know of. And why would Alexis come here to take a pregnancy test?"

"To surprise Derek?" He sat on the foot of the bed. "Is it one of Ryan's girls? Amanda doesn't have a boyfriend. That guy Maddie's been seeing is shady, I've never liked him. It's probably her. Oh, can I be there when Ryan finds out?"

Again, Kate shook her head. "Rick, stop guessing. No one's pregnant. It's not important."

"You know trying to get me to stop guessing will only make me more curious. I can have Lanie run a DNA test on this at the lab."

"No, you can't. Honestly, can you just let it go?"

"Give me a hint." He turned to look at her. "Please? I'll leave you alone if you give me a hint."

"I don't want you to leave me alone, I want you to leave the whole thing alone. You don't need to worry, she's not pregnant."

"I was never worried. Not after you told me it's not yours."

"It is someone's though. Someone who doesn't want you to find out."

Rick frowned, turning his head slightly to one side. "Who would care if I found out?" he wondered aloud then his eyes widened. "Jo. She's been sick. Did she think… could she be?"

Kate closed her eyes. "Rick, please, don't…" she began but he was already up and out the door.

"Jo!" he yelled as he went downstairs to their living room, where he saw his daughter sitting on the couch with Matt as they went over Chemistry formulas. "Oh, good, Matt's here. Just who I want to see."

He grabbed the boy by the arm, pulling him away from Jo. "You stay away from my daughter," he said, shoving him into a wall.

"What? Why?" Matt asked.

"Dad, what are you doing?"

Rick shook his head, turning to look at Jo, one of his hands against Matt's chest to keep him pinned to the wall. He silently held up the pregnancy test.

"Oh my God," Jo gasped. "Where did you get that?"

Matt's eyes widened when he saw the test in Rick's hand before he looked at Jo again. "Wait, are you pregnant?"

Rick slammed him against the wall again. "Don't talk to her. Don't even look at her."

"It's negative," Jo said. "God, Dad, let him go!"

"Rick, stop it," Kate said as the other three Castle children came into the living room.

"What's going on?" Luke asked.

"Did someone say pregnant?" Ricky asked. "Again, Mom, really?"

Rick shook his head, not turning away from Matt. "It's not your mother. It's your sister."

"Gross," Ricky mumbled.

"How can Jo have a baby?" Sara asked. "She's not married."

"I'm not having a baby!"

"You don't need to be married to get pregnant, doofus," Ricky said to his younger sister.

"Yes, you do. Mommy said people have to be married to have a baby."

"Well, you don't. You just need to…"

"Ricky, stop." Kate rubbed her eyes with her index finger and thumb. "You three, go back upstairs."

"No, I wanna watch," Ricky said, sitting down on the couch as Jo slapped one hand to her forehead.

"Upstairs, now," Kate repeated. "Or all three of you will have extra chores for a month."

"We don't do chores," Luke reminded her.

"Then I'll make some," she told them. "Upstairs. You have until I count to three." The younger three children all stared at her. "One… two... three." Ricky crossed his arms, Kate grabbed him by the ear, dragging him to the staircase, the other two followed obediently.

Once they were gone, Matt took advantage of the momentary distraction to look at Jo again. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wasn't…" she began but was cut off by her father again.

"What did I _just_ say about not talking to her?" Rick said. "In fact, you're done. You're not seeing my daughter anymore."

"What? Dad, you can't do that."

"The hell I can't. You're my daughter. My _teenage_ daughter. I'll be damned if I let you get knocked up by some loser in high school."

"He's not a loser and I'm not pregnant. Oh my God, this is insane," Jo said with a groan. "Can we at least explain what happened?"

"I have five kids, I know exactly what happened." He turned his attention to Matt again. "Get out of my house."

"Dad, no."

Rick shook his head, ignoring his daughter. "Get out now, before I throw you out."

Matt nodded slowly and quickly went to pick up his backpack and jacket. "Wait, don't," Jo pleaded, grabbing his arm. "You can't do this," she said, looking at her father. "Mom, make him stop."

"Matt, you should go home," Kate said calmly.

"No," Jo said again.

"Say goodbye, Johanna," Rick told her.

Jo shook her head as Matt quickly kissed the side of her head before leaving the house. She followed him, blinking back tears as the door closed between them. "I hate you," she said to her father before running up the stairs.


	31. Chapter 31

AN: I feel like a bunch of you guys hated the last couple chapters (and if you do, you really don't need to tell me, ya know?) You're probably gonna hate this one too. Oh wells

* * *

Rick looked at Kate as she walked into their bedroom and sat on the bed next to him. "How's Jo?" he asked softly.

"Crying her eyes out. She won't talk to me, right now she hates both of us."

"Well, good it's not just me then," he said lightly.

She sighed. "It's not funny. We're supposed to protect her from getting her heart broken and when it happens, we're supposed to give her a credit card and let her loose in the mall for retail therapy then tuck her into bed with a gallon of Rocky Road ice cream and sappy movies. We aren't supposed to be the ones responsible for her heart getting broken."

"Kate, she's known that kid for two months, she thinks she's in love and now she's having sex with him. What was I supposed to do, get them a hotel room?"

"Well, if you would have let her talk to you and explain, like she wanted to, you'd know that they had sex once and she doesn't want to do it again, which Matt is respecting."

"He almost got her pregnant."

"You know you can't be almost pregnant, right? Either you are or you aren't and she isn't."

"They had sex. If you have sex, you can get pregnant."

Her eyes narrowed at him. "So what you're saying is, anytime a woman has sex, she gets almost pregnant? How many girls have you gotten almost pregnant?"

"I… well… that…" He frowned and looked at her. "I hate it when you use logic against me."

"Well, you make it easy. They're good kids, they made a mistake and, trust me, they realize it. You didn't see Jo while she was waiting for the results of that test to come up and you didn't pay attention to Matt when he saw that test in your hand."

"I wasn't even thinking. I saw that test and I saw my baby girl with a baby of her own and then I saw the guy who did it to her."

"I know," she said, scratching his back softly. "But you didn't have hurt the kid. He got beat up pretty bad not too long ago, remember? Speaking from experience, his ribs probably still hurt and getting slammed against the wall over and over probably wasn't pleasant."

"I wasn't trying to hurt him."

"I'm scared to think about what you would have done if she was pregnant. Telling a cop your weren't trying to kill someone while you were strangling them isn't really a viable defense."

"Crime of passion," he said simply

"Not when you're a grown man who hurt a defenseless teenager. I've never seen you like that."

"I told you, the idea of Jo having a baby so young made me crazy."

"You don't think I was upset? Knowing that my daughter might be nine months away from one of the most painful experiences of her life? That she made a mistake, a few minutes that would shape the rest of her life? I was upset. I was worried. You were scary. You even scared me, I'm surprised Matt didn't wet himself."

He couldn't help letting out a quick chuckle then shook his head. "Sorry."

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to. Maybe let her cool off a bit though."

* * *

Jo looked out her bedroom window, watching the dark street outside until she saw a car roll to a stop in front of the house. She held up her cell phone, the backlight turned up to the maximum brightness and waved her hand in front of the screen, sending a signal she hoped he could see. She smiled when the car's headlights flashed.

She grabbed her backpack full of clothes from the floor near her desk, slinging it over one shoulder before she left her room, walking carefully past the three other bedrooms then ran down the stairs, careful not to make any noise, then slipped out the front door, closing her eyes as she shut it behind her, hoping it wouldn't slam. She ran across the front lawn to the car, opening the passenger side door and sitting down as she tossed her bag into the backseat.

"Are you sure about this?" Matt asked softly from the driver's seat. She didn't answer him, staring out the car window at the dark house she'd grown up in. "Jo."

She shook her head, slowly turning to look at him. "All I'm sure about is that I want to be with you. My parents are being irrational, I can't be in that house right now. Just start driving, we only have a couple hours before they start looking for us. We'll be on a missing persons list before the sun comes up."

"If they're just gonna find us anyway…"

"We need to get out of the city," she told him. "I'll get money out of my bank account while we're still in city limits then we need to start moving. We need to pay for everything with cash and we can't use our cell phones, they can use GPS to track us."

"Have you done this before?"

"I've spent my whole life being a cop's kid. You pick some stuff up. My parents probably didn't realize that talking about catching a runaway suspect in front of me when I was eleven would come back to bite them."

"Did they ever find that guy?"

She nodded. "After a few days, yeah. Dead in a hotel room in Vermont, I think."

He let out a breath, nodding slowly. "Are you sure about this?" he asked again.

She leaned toward him, kissing him slowly and deeply. "Just drive."


	32. Chapter 32

Disclaimer : I skipped a couple of these but still don't own it

* * *

Kate slowly walked up behind Rick as he sat on the couch, his hand over his mouth as he watched an old home movie, ten-month-old Jo taking her first steps.

"_Come to Daddy, baby," his voice said off screen. Jo gripped the couch in the loft, standing up slowly then took a few wobbly steps toward him before she let go of the couch, standing on her own._

"_That's my girl! Come on. Walk to Daddy." He set the camera on a tripod, focusing towards the smiling toddler before he knelt down in frame, holding his arms out. She took several quick steps then lost her balance half way to her father, falling forward and landing on the hardwood floor on her stomach._

_She pushed herself back up to sit on the floor and looked around the room before locking eyes with her father then promptly burst into tears. "Aw, Joey," he cooed as he picked her up, cradling her in his arms. "You're ok. Daddy's got you, baby. Daddy's got you."_

"She always was a drama queen," Kate said, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around his shoulders before kissing his cheek quickly.

He ran his hand along her forearm. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't been such an… asshole to her, she'd be upstairs in her bedroom, where she belongs."

She ran her fingers through his graying hair. "She'll be ok and like the cops said this morning, it's only a matter of time before she slips up. She only withdrew 500 dollars from her bank account, she won't get far and when she uses her card again, they'll get her."

"What if she's not with Matt? What if she's out there alone somewhere? What if she…"

Kate shook her head, squeezing his shoulders quickly. "Don't. Don't do that to yourself. She's fine. She'll be back home by tomorrow."

He exhaled slowly, closing his eyes. "He better take care of her." He turned his head to look at her. "How are you so calm?"

She released a breath, walking around the couch to sit next to him. "I'm not but if the kids see me upset, they'll get scared. Ricky probably knows what's going on, but Luke and Sara think she's just at Matt's house or something. I can't let myself think that she won't be waking up in her own bed in the morning."

"She can almost afford a night at the Hyatt. She'll be out of money and back by tomorrow."

* * *

"This place stinks," Matt said as he walked into the motel room outside of Philadelphia, holding onto Jo's hand.

"Literally," she agreed, trying not to breathe through her nose. "I have to use the bathroom. That one at the rest stop in Jersey was unsanitary."

He nodded as she disappeared into the bathroom. He took off his backpack and opened it when he heard Jo screaming. His head snapped up as she ran back into the bedroom, jumping up onto the bed.

He looked up at her as she stood up on the hard mattress. "I guess this one isn't much better?"

"Something was moving in the shower," she said breathlessly

"What kind of something?"

"I don't know. It looked like a bug but it was bigger than my fist."

He couldn't help laughing. "Do you want me to kill it for you, princess?"

She crossed her arms, not moving off the bed. "Normally I like it when you call me princess but that just sounds like you're making fun of me. And, yes, I need you to kill the bug."

He laughed again, pulling off one of his shoes as he walked into the bathroom. He walked back out a moment later with both of his shoes off, tossing them into the corner as he walked back to Jo. "The monster has been vanquished," he told her, holding his hands out to her.

"My hero," she sighed, kneeling on the bed. She kissed him softly, moving her hands to his shoulders as she leaned back onto bed with him on top of her. She broke the kiss suddenly when he pressed her into the mattress. "Ow. Ow. Stop. Wait."

"What?" he asked quickly. "What did I do?"

She shook her head. "Something's poking me."

He reached around her back and felt the area of the mattress she was laying on. "There's a hole. A spring's coming through, I think."

"This is gonna be a long few nights."

He leaned up on one elbow to look at her. "Maybe we can find a nicer place."

"We can't afford much else. I don't want to risk making another withdrawal from the bank for at least a week, we need to pay for the room every night and get food and your car's gonna need gas soon."

He nodded, folding one arm behind his head. "Somehow I thought our first place together would be cleaner."

"We can clean. We can kill the bugs." He smiled, raising an eyebrow at her. "Alright, _you_ can kill the bugs. We can make this work. We have to."


	33. Chapter 33

Disclaimer: I don't own it

AN: I haven't updated in a few days, which is strange for me. I'm still here. This chapter was just difficult to write and it still didn't turn out right.

* * *

Jo leaned her head against the cold window, watching brightly lit traffic signs pass by on the dark road as Matt drove.

"You feeling alright?" he asked. "You've hardly said word since we left the motel."

"I'm fine." She reached over to take one of his hands, squeezing it softly. "It's better we didn't stay in Philly the whole week. That stupid bed spring would have impaled me eventually and we would never get to LA."

He nodded. "We should stop soon though. It's starting to get late."

She nodded in agreement, looking back out her window. "Shit," she said, noticing a black and white cruiser behind them through the side mirror. "Cops. Babe, cops behind us."

Matt looked at his rearview mirror and slowed down, giving the cruiser behind them an opportunity to pass. It stayed behind them, putting on its lights after a moment.

"Shit," Jo said again as he pulled the car over to the shoulder of the road. She watched through the mirror as the cop left his cruiser and approached the car, she quickly pulled her hood up as Matt rolled his window down.

The officer looked into the car, shining his flashlight in Matt's face then turning it to Jo, who was hiding behind her hood. "She ok?" the cop asked.

"Yeah," Matt told him, glancing at his girlfriend. "Just tired, right, babe?" She nodded, not looking up. "We're trying to get to Ohio, we didn't sleep much last night."

The cop nodded. "Right. License and registration please?"

Matt pulled his license out of his wallet and handed it to the officer before reaching into his glove compartment to get his registration card. "Everything ok?" he asked as the cop shined his flashlight on the identification papers.

"You two stay here," the officer said before taking Matt's papers and going back to his cruiser.

Jo pulled down the visor, looking through the vanity mirror as Matt watched through his rearview mirror until the cop came back.

"Can you step out of the car, please? Both of you."

Jo looked at Matt as he opened the door and got out of the car. She got out on the other side while the cop was with Matt then took off on foot down the street. The cop instantly went after her, catching her easily and tackling her onto the road before cuffing her.

* * *

Kate ran to her phone as it rang, fumbling to pick it up until she was able to press the button to answer. "Hello?" she asked, running a hand through her hair. "Yeah, I'm Johanna's mother." She looked at Rick, who had returned downstairs after putting the other kids to bed, and nodded. "What?" she asked the person on the other line. "Is… is she ok? Alright. Ok, thank you. I'll be there."

She hung up her phone and looked at her husband. "Where is she?" he asked.

"They picked her up outside of Harrisburg. She's being flown back to a hospital in New York now."

"Hospital? What happened?"

"I don't know."

"Why is she in the hospital? How bad is it?"

"Rick, I don't know! She's back though." She walked over to him, hugging him tightly. "She's back."

* * *

Kate walked into the ER of the hospital, escorted by an officer who had been waiting for her in the waiting room. "Jo," she sighed when she saw her daughter sitting up on one of the beds while the doctor cleaned a cut on her cheek, both of her hands were wrapped in gauze. "What happened? Is Matt here too?"

"His parents already came and got him," the girl mumbled. "Where's Dad?"

"He had to stay home with your brothers and sister. I'll ask you again, what happened?"

"I fell."

"You fell?" Kate repeated. "This doesn't look like you just fell."

"Mrs. Castle," the officer behind her said. "Officer Harris, the patrol officer who found them, said she ran when he pulled their car over. He was forced to tackle her."

"And that's police brutality," Jo said.

"You ran from a cop?" Kate asked, ignoring what her daughter said. "You know better than that. You're lucky he didn't tase you or shoot you."

Jo didn't answer, tears prickling at her eyes as the doctor swabbed disinfectant on her cheek.


	34. Chapter 34

Disclaimer: I don't own it

* * *

Kate ushered Jo through the front door, where Rick was waiting in the living room, leaning against the arm of the couch with his arms crossed.

"What happened to you?" he immediately demanded when he saw her bandaged face and hands. He walked over to them, Jo looked up at him, blinking rapidly to try to focus her eyes. "What… are you high?"

"No," Jo said slowly before looking at Kate. "Am I?"

Kate shook her head. "It's just painkillers to get her through the night, they're making her woozy. She has some pretty serious road rash and a few bad bruises."

"What? What happened?" Rick asked again. "Did Matt do this?"

Jo shook her head, her eyes going unfocused again. She continued shaking her head, trying to get her eyes to uncross.

"It's a long story," Kate told him, putting her hands on either side of Jo's head to get her to stop shaking it as she began to lose her balance. "I'm gonna put her to bed and I'll explain everything."

"Bed?" Jo repeated. "I'm tired, Mommy."

Kate couldn't help smiling. "I know, honey. Come on, let's go to bed."

Rick sighed softly as Kate helped Jo up the stairs, he watched them until they disappeared down the hall then sat on the couch and waited for Kate to come back.

"She hasn't fallen asleep that easily since she was four," Kate said as she walked back down the stairs. "She was half out before we got to her room."

"Is she ok?" he asked, looking at her as she sat next to him.

"Yeah. She'll probably have a scar but yeah, she'll be fine."

"What happened?" he asked once again.

"They got pulled over and Jo decided it would be a good idea to make a run for it." She shook her head, pushing her hair behind her ears. "It's kind of hard to be mad at her when she doesn't know what planet she's on."

"I'm perfectly capable of being mad at her, actually. She's been gone for almost two days, you cried yourself to sleep…"

Kate put her hand on his leg, rubbing his knee. "She's home, she's not seriously injured. Let's just be thankful she's back in her own bed and, at least until the drugs wear off, she's not going anywhere."

"So what about tomorrow? Or the next day? Or…"

She squeezed his knee softly. "We'll have a talk with her when she'll be able to remember it."

"So what do we do? We already took away her computer and TV when she got kicked out of Marlowe. You won't let me take her phone away. What's left? Boarding school?"

"We are not sending her to boarding school. We can't take her away from her friends."

"What friends? She spends all of her time with Matt."

"Exactly. She ran away because she wanted to be with him, when she'd see him everyday in school. Could you imagine what would happen if we sent her away?"

"So then what?"

"Honestly, I think our best bet is to just take it easy on her for a while. They already think they're Romeo and Juliet and you know how that ended."

"So let them no whatever they want?"

"No, absolutely not but clearly telling her she can't see him isn't going to work. We just need to set some boundaries where they're involved."

"We have and she's basically jumped over every single one."

"I know. She'll hit a wall and instead of turning around and rerouting herself, she just barrels through without considering the consequences."

"That's why she's never gonna learn to drive."

She smiled. "Yeah, we'll see how well that goes over. She's so much like I was at her age, it's scary."

"Like mother, like daughter, right?"

She shook her head. "I don't want to see her go down that rabbit hole."

"You pulled yourself out of it, right?"

"Yeah and you know what happened to make me."

* * *

Jo slowly opened her eyes, rolling onto her back as she looked around her bedroom. She jumped when she saw her father sitting in the chair at her desk, watching her. "Ow," she groaned, putting one hand against her head, forgetting her injured hands and wincing.

"You alright?"

"My head kills," she muttered, laying back down against the pillow. "Why is it so bright in here?"

"That's called the sun. You might have hit your head when that cop tackled you." He got out of the chair and closed the blinds on her window.

She examined both of her hands, picking off the wrapped bandage with one finger. "Gross," she said when she exposed one of her red and bloody palms.

"Don't do that," he said, quickly going to get a spare roll of gauze the hospital gave to Kate. "Come here," he told her, sitting on the edge of her bed to rewrap her hand. "How bad is the pain?"

"I guess it could be worse considering there's like no skin left on my hand."

"Yeah, well that's what you get for running from a cop. So aside from the obvious, are you ok?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good," he said, leaning over to hug her.

She winced then hugged him back. "So am I grounded for the rest of my life?"

"Not really." He turned her head carefully to look at her injured cheek then peeled the bandage off before covering it again with a clean patch of gauze. "You look a little like Two-Face."

She blinked at him.

"He's a villain from Batman who…"

"I know who Two-Face is, I am your daughter after all." She reached up to carefully touch her cheek.

"Yeah, you are," he said softly.

"I know, right now you're wishing I was switched at birth so you could give me back to my birth parents and get your real daughter who is a well-behaved, straight-A student."

He shook his head. "You're my daughter and I love you. I don't want you to doubt that ever again. I would never trade you for anybody and if you hadn't come home, I would never be the same. All I want to do is keep you safe and happy."

"I am."

"Are you?" He turned to look at her. "Does Matt make you happy?"

She smiled. "Like over the moon."

"Well, I was going to tell you that I was too harsh with you and him and that… pregnancy thing but you were gone when I went to get you up for school that morning."

She bit her lip, looking down at her bed sheet.

"Joey," he said, making her look at him.

"You haven't called me that since I was in third grade."

He nodded, putting his hand on top of hers. "I just don't want you to grow up too quickly. If you don't believe me, you can ask your mother, you have to enjoy being a teenager while you can because it's over way too soon."

"Can't I enjoy it with my boyfriend?"

"You can," he told her. "You're just not devoting all your time to him. You need to make new friends, spend time with them."

"Dad..."

He shook his head. "What's gonna happen when you two break up?"

"We won't."

"If you do," he corrected himself. "Then what? You'd spend the next two years of school miserable and alone because you excluded yourself because of a guy." He kissed her forehead quickly. "I did not raise a loser."


	35. Chapter 35

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle

AN: sorry to anyone who got an email alert about chapter 36. I accidentally uploaded this chapter twice

* * *

Jo smiled as Matt came up behind her, putting one hand against her back as he kissed her uninjured cheek. "Hey," she said with a smile as she turned to look at him.

"Oh my God," he said when he saw the white bandage on her other cheek. "I didn't realize… how bad is it?"

She shook her head. "It looks worse than it is. It just stings a little bit, the hands are worse."

He nodded. "So how much trouble are you in?"

"Actually, they aren't grounding me again. So we're still on for New Year's in Times Square."

"Wow, you actually remember that."

"Of course I do," she told him with a smile. "Our first real date."

"We might not be able to do that though," he told her slowly. "My parents grounded me."

Her smile slipped. "How bad?"

"They haven't decided how long but they took my car keys and I have to work at my dad's store every weekend."

"So no more Saturday night 'study sessions' on my couch, I guess."

"We'll be ok," he promised her softly.

She nodded, taking his hand and squeezing it softly without putting too much pressure on her injured palm. "Not to get weird or whatever because in hindsight, running away was a really bad idea but waking up with you, in your arms, was amazing. The bed could have been nicer but I can really get used to waking up like that."

He grinned. "Yeah, me too." He put his arm around her as she leaned against his shoulder and he kissed the side of her head quickly. "Maybe we can find a nice little place together near wherever we go to college."

"You want to go to college together?" she asked, lifting her head to look at him.

He shrugged one shoulder. "I mean, we want to stay to together right? And long distance sucks, we can figure something out and go somewhere where we'll both be happy."

She smiled, kissing him quickly. "I don't even know what I want to study yet," she told him. "You really want to live with me someday? I mean, I can be kind of a slob."

"So can I but we'll figure it out."

"We probably shouldn't talk like this around my dad, he wants me to see other people."

He frowned, blinking at her. "Other people? Like… he wants us to break up? I thought…"

"No. No." She shook her head. "He probably didn't have guys in mind."

"So… girls? That's… interesting."

"What? No. God, these stupid painkillers they have me on, nothing I say makes sense. Like, he wants me to have more friends who are girls."

"Oh. I was kind of looking forward to watching you with your new girlfriend."

She laughed, smacking him in the arm with the back of her hand. "Gross, you perv."

"I'm just saying, if you ever feel the need to experiment in college and bring home another girl, I would not object."

She nodded. "And if you ever feel the need to experiment and bring a girl, or anyone really, back to our home, in our bed, don't bother coming home."

* * *

Jo laid on her stomach on top of her bed, biting the end of her pen when her phone began ringing. She looked at the screen then smiled as she pressed the button to accept the video call from Matt. "Hey," she said, looking at his image on her screen. "I miss you. Doing Chem homework without you is so weird."

"Tell me about it." He held his phone out next to him, laying down on his stomach.

She raised her eyebrows when she noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt. "Weird question, are you naked?"

He shook his head, lifting one of his legs to show her he was wearing sweatpants. "Do you want me to be naked? I mean, wouldn't mind if you want to like... take turns."

She laughed then bit her lip and glanced at her door to make sure the lock was turned before she propped her phone up against one of her pillows. "Well, I guess for the sake of fairness." She lifted her shirt up slightly, just above her bellybutton as she watched his eyes widen on the tiny screen. "In your dreams," she told him, pulling her shirt back down.

"In my dreams you're normally already naked."

"Oh, really? Tell me about these dreams." She laid down against her pillow, holding her phone above her.

"Actually, I'd rather show you one day."

"Someday," she said softly.

"That's mean, you can't just tease a guy like that. Do you mean someday like our wedding night or before that?"

She laughed. "Probably before that," she told him before her phone fell out of her hand and hit her nose.

"Did you just try to kiss your screen?"

"No, I'm just a klutz." She picked her phone up again. "Don't think I didn't catch you using the word wedding in a sentence."

"Crap," he muttered then smiled and shrugged. "Maybe after college, who knows? I might just make an honest woman out of you."

She smiled. "Well, you're welcome to try."

* * *

AN: anybody who started screaming "TOO SOON" at your screens during this chapter, remember two things: Jo and Matt are teenagers who are in love and think they'll be together forever, and they just came back from attempting running away together so a talk about their future needed to happen. Annnnnd it opened the door for a possible Jo's college adventures sequel that probably won't happen but yeah


	36. Chapter 36

AN: sorry if anyone saw a chapter 36 in their alerts for this story the night 35 was posted. I accidently posted the same chapter twice. And also, to respond to some people about the sequel I mentioned then pulled back on, if I have the time/desire to write a story about Jo in college, I might. Would anyone actually be interested in reading it if I did write it?

* * *

"Dammit," Jo yelled from her father's office, causing Kate to leave the vegetables she was preparing for dinner and go to the room.

"What have I said about swearing in the house when your brothers and sister are home?"

"Sorry," Jo mumbled, looking at the screen of the computer she sat in front of. "They're upstairs, I don't think they heard me."

"Actually, I think people in New Jersey heard you. What are you doing? You're not supposed to be on the computer, you know that."

"I'm allowed to for school. I was taking a practice SAT test and I blew it."

Kate frowned, going to look at the screen. "Honey, a 1670 isn't horrible. It's better than a lot of people do."

"I need at least an 1830 for NYU."

"NYU?" she said, looking at her daughter as she leaned against the large desk. "I thought you wanted to leave the city."

Jo shrugged. "Can't I change my mind?"

"You can but why NYU? What do you want to major in?"

"I don't know yet," she admitted.

"You know, you can take a year off if you want, figure some things out. No one's making you go to college right away."

"My guidance counselor thinks taking time off will make me lose momentum."

"Well, then you can go to community college, take some general courses, dip your toes in the water and see what you like."

Jo shook her head. "I want to go to NYU and I can't with a stupid 1670. Not unless I magically raise my GPA to a 4.0."

"You had a 3.4 on your last report card and that's perfectly acceptable to a lot of great schools. Tell me, what's so special about NYU that's fueling your sudden desire to go there?"

"Well um… Matt wants to go there so…"

Kate sighed, shaking her head. "I should have known he'd be involved. Jo, you cannot let a guy guide your future."

"He's not, I'm just thinking about where I want to go to college. I'm a junior, I'm supposed to think about this kind of stuff."

"You're supposed to think about what you want to major in and what school would be best for you. NYU is a great school, if that's what you want but you can't let your boyfriend decide for you."

"He isn't, we just…"

Kate shook her head. "Honey, I know you love him but you have to live your own life. I'm worried about you."

"Why? I'm fine."

"You're not. What you're doing… being this serious about one guy, running away, planning your future around him, this isn't healthy. You're 16 years old, you're supposed to be seeing what's out there for yourself."

"What's out there sucks. All the other guys at my school are jerks. Aren't you happy I found a good guy who cares about me?"

"Of course I am but I doubt all the guys you go to school with are that bad. Do you even know more than a handful of them?"

Jo crossed her arms. "I know they ganged up on Matt and beat the crap out of him."

"That was only a few kids, not everyone…"

"Mom, how many guys do you think would stay with me after I changed my mind about having sex? How many guys would have respected that without cheating on me or… something else?"

"The right one would."

"The right one did and he still is."

"You're sixteen, you shouldn't have a "right one" yet."

"Those were your words, not mine."

Kate ran a hand through her hair, pushing it away from her face. "Alright, listen. I never want to see you hurt and I'm scared that when you guys break up…"

"Why do you and Dad keep saying when?"

"Because we both know how life works, we know how relationships work. I'm worried that you won't be able to function without Matt."

"Well, would you be able to function without Dad?"

"No," Kate said with a sigh. "But the situations are completely different."

"How?"

"Because your father and I are adults who have a family together. He's been in my life for almost 23 years and we've been married for 18 years. I'm sorry but my relationship with your father does not even compare to your relationship with Matt."

"Fine but that doesn't mean you have to completely disregard it. Oh, never mind." She shook her head. "Sorry, I forgot, I'm just a kid, I'm not allowed to have feelings."

"Jo, that is not what I said. You've only known him for a few months and I am not saying what's in your heart right now isn't real but you don't know how you'll feel in a year or two. Maybe you and Matt will still be together and that'll be great, really. I like him, he's good to you and he makes you happy but nobody knows what's in the future. I know you think that he is and he might be, but he might not be."

"But if we don't at least try…"

"You can try. No one's stopping you from dating and if, when your college applications are due next year, you really want to apply to colleges together, you can. But you're not limiting yourself to one school that you had no interest in going to before you met him. I'm not letting you. You need decide where you want to go to school and if Matt's willing to go there too, then you can both apply. If you want to go to school together, you need to apply to where you _both_ want to go, where you'll have things that will make you happy outside of each other. If you don't, you'll grow to resent each other."

"What if he won't give up NYU for me?" she asked softly.

"Then you need to figure something else out. Healthy relationships are about give and take and supporting each other. If he's not willing to give something up to be with you, you're not giving up something to be with him."

* * *

AN: I don't think this story will be ending soon (to be honest, I have no idea at this point because I was only planning 20 to 30 chapters) but to respond to some people about the sequel I kind of mentioned last chapter then pulled back on, if I have the time/desire to write a story about Jo in college, I might. Would anyone actually be interested in reading it if I did write it? I do have a few scenes floating around in my head already and working on ways to fit Castle and Beckett into it but there's no much point in writing/posting it if no one will read it.


	37. Chapter 37

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or the musical/novel Wicked.

* * *

Jo leaned her head against Matt's shoulder as he walked her towards the auditorium after the final bell rang. "I wish you didn't have to work," she said. "It would be fun to work on the musical together. Or, at least, wouldn't be as lame."

He smiled. "I can't believe you actually agreed to do this. I didn't think you sang in front of people."

She shook her head as they stopped in front of the theater doors. "I don't. I'm just gonna help build sets, try to get my dad off my back about not having enough school spirit or whatever. Apparently making backdrops and stuff for the spring musical will help that. At least it's Wicked, so maybe it won't completely suck."

"And you're gonna build sets?" he asked with a laugh. "Have you ever even used a hammer?"

"Well… no. But I can color inside the lines. Kind of. Someone needs to paint, right?"

"I guess so. Have fun. Try not to mash any fingers. Your hands are just starting to get better." He took her hand, lifting it to his lips and kissing the back of it softly

"Try not to work too hard," she called after him as he headed down the hall before she turned into the auditorium.

* * *

Jo rolled her eyes as she listened to auditions on stage, listening to the teenage singers butcher the songs as she painted scenery. Wicked was one of her favorite movies growing up, she couldn't help singing along softly.

She didn't realize that she'd started singing loudly enough to be heard on stage until the curtain pulled open. "What are you doing?" the blonde girl holding the curtain open asked.

"Sorry," Jo said quickly. "This is just one of my favorite songs so…"

She rolled her eyes. "Defying Gravity is everyone's favorite song. That doesn't give you a reason to ruin my audition with your little gravel voice."

"Kelly, what's going on?" the director asked from the first row of seat in the auditorium.

"Nothing, Mr. Willard," Kelly said quickly.

He looked at Jo, raising an eyebrow. "Who are you?"

"Uh… Jo… Johanna Castle," she stammered, stepping out onto the stage. "I uh… stage crew."

He nodded. "If you want to audition, go ahead."

Jo shook her head. "I… I don't. I'm not an actor and I don't really sing so…"

Kelly crossed her arms. "Clearly."

Jo rolled her eyes as the teacher walked to the stage with sheet music, handing it to Jo. "Duet Defying Gravity. Kelly, take Glinda's part. Jo, you take Elphaba's."

"But she's an alto," Kelly said quickly.

"What'd you call me?"

Kelly groaned. "Elphaba is played by a mezzo. You can't hit the High F."

"I don't understand a word you just said." Jo looked down at the papers in her hand. "I don't know how to read music."

"Of course you don't."

"Kelly, save it," Mr. Willard said. "Just listen to the music, Jo. Follow the cues." He motioned for the music to start.

* * *

Matt came up beside their lockers in the morning and put his arm around Jo's waist, kissing the side of her head. "I thought you weren't gonna audition for the musical."

She looked up at him, blinking once. "I didn't. Not really. Why?"

"You haven't seen it? Come on." He put an arm around her, pulling her away from her locker, barely giving her time to swing it shut before he dragged her to the bulletin board near the chorus room. "Look," he told her, pointing to a large cluster of papers.

She shook her head, walking over to the board and scanning the papers for her name. _JOHANNA CASTLE - CITIZEN OF OZ, UNDERSTUDY FOR ELPHABA._ "No way," she mumbled.

Next to her, Kelly smiled proudly. "Glinda, of course." She looked at the line with Jo's name. "Good thing all that munchkin makeup will cover that thing on your face. By the way, your audition was pitchy and you need to work on your breath control."

Jo blinked. "Congratulations," she mumbled as the other girl walked away before turning to look at Matt, who was smiling widely. She let out a quick laugh, walking over to him and hugging him tightly, tucking her head under his chin. "I guess I have to pick up my script."

He kissed the top of her head, squeezing her against him quickly. "You can make that green makeup work."

She shuddered. "Seriously, if I have to play Elphaba, I'm gonna need an understudy of my own cause I'm gonna blow chunks."

"Stop, you'll be awesome. What's that thing, break a leg?"

"If you love me, you really will break my leg before opening night."

* * *

AN: semi-short chapter, this was really awkward to write. I said I wouldn't make Jo sing again but I wanted to do something so everything didn't revolve around Matt and there's only so many things you can get into halfway through the school year. Plus, she's her grandmother's granddaughter (and this is how Martha makes a comeback)

and for fans of Wicked, I know high school productions aren't really a thing and it's not a movie yet. By 2031, there will be a movie and chances are it'll be rewritten for high school performers once the movie helps to reach a larger audience


	38. Chapter 38

Disclaimer: I don't own it

* * *

Jo laid on her bed, her headphones on as she listened to the Wicked soundtrack, singing to herself under her breath, unaware that someone was knocking on her door.

Kate opened the door, smiling as she peeked in to look at her daughter. "Hey," she said, trying to get Jo's attention but she was too busy studying the script in front of her to look up. Kate walked to the bed, lifting one of the headphones away from her ear. "Hey," she said again, making Jo jump.

The teenager fumbled to press pause on the cell phone before looking at her mother. "Hey. I'm just trying to figure out this music."

Kate nodded. "Your father and I are so proud of you," she told her, sitting down on the bed next to her. "We want you to do your best so we found you teacher to help with all this."

"An acting tutor? Aren't those like really expensive? I mean, I know we have money but…"

"Don't worry, we found a cheap one. Come on, I want you to meet her."

Kate ushered Jo out of her room and down the stairs, where she saw an elderly gray-haired woman sitting on the couch talking to her father. "Gram," she said with a smile. "What are you doing here? What happened to California?"

Martha stood and hugged Jo as she ran over to her. "Los Angeles will still be there in two months. Watching my granddaughter's rise to stardom is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I will be there for every moment until the curtain falls on your final performance."

"You know I'm just part of the ensemble, right? You probably won't even be able to see me."

"That's not what your father told me. I believe he said something about you being lead?" she said, looking at Rick, who nodded.

"I'm the understudy but…"

"So that means you were better than everyone else who auditioned except for one girl. I was understudy several times and I always ended up playing the role."

"Yeah, after someone mysteriously got sick or fell down the stairs and broke their neck," Rick said.

Jo's eyes widened. "Did you kill somebody, Gram?"

Martha shook her head. "Honestly, Richard, that was a misunderstanding. She did not break her neck, only a couple vertebras got misaligned. Enough about the past, we must think about the future and the legacy of Rogers women on the great stage." She looked around the living room. "Where is your piano? Richard, how are you raising these children without a piano in the house?"

"I'm sorry, Mother. I know, it's borderline abusive," he quipped.

"Well, it nearly is. A home without music isn't a home. And now you have a performer in the family, its time in invest in a piano."

"I'm not really a performer," Jo said but Martha waved her off.

"Nonsense, darling. You are just one in a long line of thespians in our family. We'll go shopping for one today, on your father's charge, of course."

"Of course," Rick muttered, already looking exhausted.

"It's money you should have spent years ago and we wouldn't be having this conversation," Martha told him.

"An old piano wouldn't work anymore," he said then shook his head and pulled his wallet out of his pocket, handing his mother a gold credit card. "Nothing too elaborate."

"If you take proper care of it, it would last a lifetime." She took the credit card from him. "The point of a piano is to make a statement, darling. You don't want some boring, wooden thing you shove up against a wall."

"Actually, that's exactly what I want. I don't want to spend a hundred-thousand dollars on a piano no one will play and will probably end up being lit on fire by one of the boys. You know what, I'm gonna go with you."

"Richard, no," Martha said, linking her arm through Jo's. "I need some time alone with my granddaughter. I want to hear all about this young man of yours," she said, looking at the teenager.

Rick sighed, leaning back against the cushions of the couch as Jo and Martha left. Kate came around the back of the couch and began rubbing his shoulders. "You know we need to make room for a baby grand now, right?" she said.

He nodded, rubbing one eye. "Yeah, I know."

* * *

AN: single scene chapter, sorry. I'm not feeling good and I'm slammed at work. At least Martha's back!


	39. Chapter 39

Disclaimer: still don't own it

* * *

Jo stood next to the brand new piano Martha had purchased doing vocal runs as her grandmother played notes for her to match. She had managed to keep Martha from breaking Rick's budget, talking her into a fairly simple black upright.

"Johanna, darling," Martha said after playing a high note that Jo couldn't hit. "There's a difference between singing and shrieking. I know, girls these days seem to think there isn't but nobody wants to listen to someone scream their way through a beloved musical."

Jo sighed. "Gram, I appreciate you trying to help, I really do but is this all necessary?"

"Of course it is. You're missing out on valuable rehearsal time standing in the background and you need to know these songs inside and out, you need to hit the high notes and the low notes." Martha stood up, motioning to the script Jo held. "May I?"

Jo nodded, handing the thick packet of papers to her grandmother.

"I want you to match this note," Martha instructed. "And I want you to hold it." She hit a note on the keyboard. Jo sang it, looking at her for reassurance until the rolled up script she held went into her stomach.

Jo coughed, clutching her stomach as she doubled over. "What was that for?"

"You need to control your breathing. You should be able to hold that note, even if someone throws a medicine ball at your stomach."

"If someone threw a medicine ball at my stomach, I'm pretty sure it would break a rib or something. I wouldn't be concerned with holding a note."

"And how about during the final verse of Defying Gravity, when you're being lifted into the air with smoke surrounding you? You still need to hit and hold those notes."

"Can I just drop out of the play?"

"Absolutely not. You made a commitment. The girl who you're understudying for, what's her name?"

"Chloe."

"And this Chloe, is she a better singer than you?" Martha asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Jo said with a shrug. "I mean, she actually got the part."

Martha shook her head. "You can't think like that. You have to be just as good- no, you have to be better than her. You have to make them regret not giving you that part."

* * *

Jo ran over to the door when the doorbell rang, happy to have a distraction from Martha's musical boot camp. "Hey," she said, smiling widely when she saw Matt standing outside. "What are you doing here? I thought your parents took your car away."

"There's this new fangled thing called a bus," he said. "Awesome idea, really. Someone should have thought of it a hundred years ago."

She laughed. "Ok, smartass. Why are you here?"

"I believe I promised to help you run lines. I don't have to work until tonight, so I can hang out for a couple hours."

"Well, I don't know how much hanging out we'll do," Jo told him, stepping back so he could enter the house. "This is my grandmother," she said, pointing to Martha. "Gram, this is Matt."

Martha smiled as she walked over to greet Matt. "Matthew, so nice to finally meet you. You're all Johanna's talked about."

Matt grinned, looking at his girlfriend. "Oh, really?"

Jo rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Yeah, don't let it go to your head. I haven't made you sound that great," she joked, tugging on opening of his jacket, pulling him closer to kiss him.

"I'll leave you two alone," Martha said. "I have catching up to do with the other children."

Jo laughed, leaning her head against Matt's shoulder. "Thanks, Gram."

Martha squeezed her granddaughter's elbow quickly. "I bet he'll help you work on your breath control," she whispered before leaving the room.

* * *

Matt blinked as he looked at the script in his hand, his other arm around Jo as he helped her run lines, until they got to the song As Long As You're Mine, Elphaba's duet with her love interest Fiyero, then he fell silent.

"You don't need to sing," she told him. "You can just say the lines, I'll sing my part."

He shook his head, removing his arm from around her. "Who plays this guy? The guy you're singing this with."

"Adam Stewart, I think. Why?"

"It says you kiss him at the end of the song," he told her, pointing to the stage direction.

She looked over his shoulder at the script. "Oh. It's just a peck, really."

"A 'passionate' peck?"

She opened her mouth then closed it again. "It… it's just acting."

"I might believe that if you were actually an actor."

"Are you seriously jealous?" she asked with a laugh. "Don't be stupid."

"Sorry, I'm not jumping up and down thinking about you kissing another dude."

"I didn't… it's not a real kiss. I don't even know the guy." She scooted closer to him, putting her chin on his shoulder. "You're not seriously mad, are you?"

"Not at you, I guess. I mean, you didn't write the thing. I'll just look away during that part."

"Good," she said, touching his cheek so he was looking at her then kissed him. "Because there's only one guy I ever want to kiss."


	40. Chapter 40

Disclaimer: all I own is the computer I'm writing this on

* * *

"Ok, my flying monkeys," Mr. Willard said as he stepped onto the stage, where the cast of the play were waiting. "Bad news, guys. Chloe's out."

Jo's head snapped up while the rest of the kids all groaned or yelled out their confusion. "What do you mean out?" she asked.

"She's sick. She has mono."

"Wait, what?" Jo asked, standing up. "But she'll be back. I mean, a couple weeks and she'll be better, right?"

"More like a month and a half," Mr. Willard told her. "Even if she was able to come back to school in a couple weeks, she'll have missed too many rehearsals and she definitely won't be able to sing. Since you're already standing, everyone congratulate Jo, our new Elphaba."

She let out a low groan, sinking back down to the floor with scattered applause from the rest of the cast.

"Castle." Jo looked up again, seeing Kelly standing over her. "Come on."

"Where?"

Kelly rolled her eyes. "God, you already look like you're about to turn into a turtle and hide in your shell. Come on," she said, this time grabbing Jo's arm and pulling her up. "You're a lead now, time to stop hanging out with the extras."

"But I…" she began but was cut off when Kelly dragged her over to where the rest of the main cast sat. "Alright. Uh… hi."

One of the other girls chuckled. "What was Willard thinking casting you?" she sneered.

"Em, you don't have to be a bitch just because you're still playing Nessarose," a guy said, kicking her in the foot before he stood to face Jo. "I'm Adam… or Fiyero."

Jo nodded. "I know who you are. I've watched you."

Adam's eyebrows rose. "Really?"

"I mean, you play Elphaba's love interest so you were with Chloe a lot so… you were there."

Em rolled her eyes. "Seriously?" she muttered.

"Don't worry," Adam told her. "We'll help you be popular."

"Super dork alert," Kelly said, walking behind Adam and touching his arm, giving his bicep a quick squeeze. "Don't be stealing my lines, boy. Come on, Castle. Let's see what you got."

* * *

"Hey, Jo," Adam called, running to catch up with her after rehearsal. "I just wanted to say sorry for… everyone. I'm sure you're gonna be awesome."

"That makes one of us," Jo mumbled. "I feel like I messed up the whole thing."

He shook his head. "You're an outsider, the other girls are jealous you got the lead. Just ignore them, they'll haze you for a few days and then you guys will be fine with each other. And if it means anything, I wouldn't have gotten into that flying harness either. Not after that sack of potatoes they were testing it with fell out and almost hit Kelly in the head."

She nodded, laughing quickly. "Yeah and I'm a little heavier than potatoes. I don't think that ten foot fall would be too much fun. I'd rather not literally break my leg, the play would basically be ruined since I'm kind of the last resort."

He laughed, shaking his head. "You know, it's kind of ironic that you're playing the bad witch and Kelly's playing the good witch."

"Really? I kind of got this vibe that you and Kelly were…"

"Me and Kelly? No, no way. I mean, we hooked up a couple times but we're not exclusive or anything. I've known her and Emily since we were like ten, it's starting to feel a little like incest." Her eyes narrowed as he shook his head. "Anyway, after that whole flying potato thing kind of ruined rehearsal, we never got to practice As Long As You're Mine."

She blinked, taken aback slightly. "Right, yeah. But, you know, I've actually been practicing that one on my own so I've kind of gotten my part nailed."

"Even the kiss at the end?" he asked, stopping in front of her.

"No. Not that part but… the rest of it," she told him, playing with the pendant on her necklace. "I think I have it."

"Well, if you want we can go somewhere and practice." She jumped back when he leaned towards her. "What's wrong? I don't think Chloe got me sick."

"Look, I have a boyfriend and he's not really comfortable with this whole thing, especially if we start having private rehearsals."

"Have you explained to him that there's a thing called acting?"

"Yeah well, it didn't seem like you were acting just now."

He shrugged one shoulder. "What boyfriend doesn't know won't hurt him," he told her, leaning towards her again.

This time, she grabbed his arm and quickly twisted it behind his back. "Do that again outside of rehearsal and I will break your wrist," she told him, readjusting her hold on his arm to put pressure against his wrist.

"So those rumors about you are true, about why you left your last school?" He turned to face her when she released his arm. "Next time you decide to threaten someone, maybe do it off of school property," he whispered. "You don't want to get kicked out again, do you?"

She stared silently at him, glancing quickly around the hallway to see if there were any cameras close by, finding the closest one on the opposite end of the corridor. She bit her lip, unsure if the cameras were active after-hours. "What do you want?"

He smiled. "Don't worry, the show must go on," he told her before kissing her cheek quickly. "See you in rehearsal."

* * *

Jo closed her eyes as she sank into the backseat of the taxi. She told the driver her address then handed him her credit card to swipe before she pulled her phone out of her pocket, going through her contact list until she found Matt's number and pressed the call button.

She sighed, running a hand through her hair as his voicemail picked up. "Hey, it's me. I just really wanted to hear your voice," she said, her own voice breaking before she cleared her throat. "Chloe's sick so I have the part and uh... I don't know if you have to work tomorrow or what but um... if you can, I need you to come to rehearsal with me." She lowered the phone from her ear to hang up before she raised it again. "I love you."


	41. Chapter 41

Disclaimer: I don't own it

* * *

"Why didn't you answer your phone last night?" Matt asked walking over to Jo's locker before first period.

"I didn't feel like talking when you decided to call me back," she said, not looking at him as she shoved his jacket she still wore into her locker.

"Jo, I was at work. I'm not allowed to have my phone on me and when I got home, I had homework to do so, yes, by the time I checked my messages it was late. I'm sorry. Will you please talk to me?"

"I thought you only worked on weekends."

"Well, I was but since your birthday's coming up I asked my dad if I could pick up some hours after school so I could buy you a gift," he told her.

"Oh," she said. She closed her eyes, leaning her head against her locker door. "God, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. I just needed you and you weren't there."

"Come here," he whispered, putting his arms around her and holding her close to him. "Trust me, when I heard you crying like that, I wished I would have been able to talk to you."

"I wasn't crying," she mumbled against his shoulder.

"Do you want me to play the message for you?"

"Not really. But I wasn't crying. I was just upset."

He nodded, kissing the side of her head. "So you were about to cry. Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head, pulling back enough to look at him. "Do you have to work tonight too?"

"No. You said you want me at rehearsal today so I got one of the other guys to take my shift. Why do you want me there though?"

She leaned her forehead against his, playing with the zipper of his jacket. "Yesterday Adam started flirting with me and he asked me to go somewhere with him and have a private rehearsal."

Matt stared at her for a moment, blinking once before he spoke. "And you went with him?"

"No! Of course not. But he tried to kiss me and I wouldn't let him and I told him about you. Then he said some stupid thing about what you don't know won't hurt you or something and he tried to kiss me again."

"And that got you all worked up? I mean, you didn't actually kiss him, did you?"

She shook her head.

"Then what's wrong?"

"I twisted his arm around his back, told him I'd break his wrist. He basically threatened to have me kicked out of school for threatening to hurt him."

"I told you, they don't expel anyone here unless you like shoot the place up. You'd probably get suspended but…"

"I can't get suspended, Matt! It'll go on my record and I already got expelled from one school this year." She sighed, running her hands through her hair. "I just want to stop getting in trouble before I end up in juvie or something."

"Alright. Hey, stop, ok?" He rubbed her back softly. "You're not gonna get in trouble, alright? I'll be at your rehearsal and if that dude even looks at you wrong, I'll deal with him." He kissed her forehead quickly as the bell rang then put his arm around her shoulders as they began walking to her class.

She inhaled deeply, wrapping both her arms around his waist. "So um… what are you getting me for my birthday?"

He smiled and kissed the side of her head quickly. "You'll find out in three weeks."

* * *

Matt sat in the auditorium, in the second row of seats with his feet propped on the chair in front of him as her stared at the ceiling, counting the tiny lights that illuminated the large room.

"Alright," Mr. Willard said from the row in front of Matt. "Jo and Adam, As Long As You're Mine."

Matt sat up straighter, facing the stage as Jo walked to the center, followed by Adam. She glanced quickly at Matt before kneeling on the stage facing Adam.

After singing a few bars of the song with little emotion on her part, Mr. Willard stopped them. "Jo, are you feeling ok?" he asked.

She looked at the director and nodded silently.

"Alright, so you know what this song is about, right?" he asked. "You love this boy. You just want to be with him as long as you can be, which you know isn't very long. You have to be near him, you have to be connected to him. Touch him, hold him."

"I uh… can we just do this a little differently, maybe? I'm not really comfortable on my knees," she said, making Adam snicker.

"This song has been performed this way thousands of times."

"I know but isn't it just getting a little stale? You know, us just sitting here and staring at each other."

The teacher rubbed his forehead. "You're supposed to do more than sit and stare at him."

Matt leaned forward in his seat. "Uh… can I talk to her for a minute?" he asked.

Mr. Willard nodded. "Take five, guys," he told the performers as Matt walked to the stage, looking up at Jo who had moved to the front of the stage so her legs were hanging off the edge.

"What's going on?" he asked softly, touching her knee. "You had this song down when we practiced the other day."

"It's easy to sing it to you. This is how I feel about you. I can't stand Adam. Singing it to him is…" she trailed off, shaking her head.

"You can't think of it as you and Adam. It's acting, right? It's not you and him, it's Elphaba and Fiyero. Would it help if I left? I'll wait outside until you're done."

She shook her head. "No, I want you here. I _need_ you here." She put her arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer so his hands slid up her legs. "At least if you're in the room I can feel kind of like I'm singing to you."

"You are. Just close your eyes and pretend you're holding my hand," he told her, squeezing her hand. "Pretend it's me making you feel wicked," he whispered with a smile.

She laughed quickly, leaning forward to kiss him until she was stopped when someone put an arm around her shoulders. She looked at Adam as he stooped down to look at them both.

"We have to get back to work," he told her, his hand hanging near her chest. "You don't mind, do you Max?"

Matt stared at him silently instead of correcting him, his eyes flashing to the arm he had around his girlfriend as if he wanted to tear the limb off the other boy until Jo pushed his arm away and stood.

Adam grinned as he watched Jo walk back to her mark before looking at Matt again. "Don't worry, man," he said, slapping Matt lightly in the shoulder before he stood. "I'll take good care of her."


	42. Chapter 42

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle

* * *

Jo grabbed Matt's arm as they left the school with the rest of the cast and crew of the musical, Matt automatically turning in the direction Adam went. "Don't," she told him. "He's not worth it."

He let out a breath, turning to go in the direction Jo had been pulling his arm. "You're the one who wanted to break his wrist."

She shook her head. "You promised no more fighting, remember?"

He nodded. "Yeah, alright." He put an arm around her waist then glanced up at the dark sky. "We should get you a taxi before it starts raining."

She didn't move as he started to move towards the street. "I don't wanna go home," she told him, grabbing his hand and pulling him back to her. "Are your parents home?"

He shook his head, shrugging quickly. "Not for a few hours, I think. Why?"

She smiled. "Let's go to your place," she suggested.

He hesitated, opening his mouth then closing it again before shaking his head. "That's not a good idea."

"Why? Are you hiding a stash of girls in your closet or something?"

"Of course not but I thought you didn't want to get in anymore trouble."

"At school," she clarified. "What are my parents gonna do, ground me?"

"Actually, yeah. Like for the rest of your life."

She smiled, shaking her head as she put one of her hands on his shoulder, running her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck. "You worry too much, you know that? Come on."

* * *

When they arrived at Matt's apartment, they both dropped their backpacks and coats near the couch before Jo took his hand and led him to his bedroom. She turned to look at him as he closed the door, her hands going to the hem of his shirt as she kissed him deeply.

She pulled away from him briefly to pull his shirt off. "Jo," he muttered before her lips were on his again, her hands sliding down his torso to his belt buckle. "Jo." He put his hands on her waist, pushing her away and holding her at arms length. "Slow down. What are you doing?" he asked softly.

"What? Nothing. I just want you."

He sighed softly, leading her to the bed and sitting on the edge of it. "I just… last time we did this, you freaked out and you didn't talk to me for over a week."

"That was months ago."

He shook his head. "Look, you're emotional right now about the play and this thing with Adam and…"

"I'm not emotional about Adam. I don't care about him."

"I didn't mean it that way. I want you to be sure this is what you want and you don't just want this because you're upset about something else."

"What I want is a few minutes with you where it's just you and me and we don't have to think about anything else that's going on." She fell back, laying in the middle of his bed then rolling over so her back was to him. "If you don't want me though, that's fine."

"You think I don't want you?" He couldn't help laughing. "You have no idea how bad I want you." He laid down next to her, putting an arm around her waist.

"Could have fooled me," she muttered.

"I do," he told her, pulling her tight against him and kissing her neck softly. "I just know that went we do have sex again, I'm not gonna want to let you go after."

She rolled over to face him, her fingers tracing the light contours of his chest. "Good, I don't want you to."

He groaned softly. "You're making it really hard for me to keep saying no to you right now."

"Then don't," she said before kissing him again, her hand moving down to his belt.

"Jo." He pulled away from her, grabbing her wrists to stop her as she unbuttoned his jeans. "Look at me," he told her. "I want you to look at me and tell me this is what you want, what you really want."

She lifted her head to look at him, blinking when he raised his eyebrows expectantly. "Forget it," she groaned, laying on her back again. "You know, normally this conversation would be the other way around."

"I guess," he said, shrugging one shoulder. "I just don't wanna risk losing you over this again."

"You won't," she promised softly.

"Good." He kissed her quickly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Because you're more important to me than sex is. You're more important than a lot of things are."

* * *

AN: I keep trying to find a way end this story and Jo just won't let me. She's like her daddy, she never shuts up and keeps deciding she has more she wants to say (and do). That said, I'm gonna try to have this whole thing wrapped up by like chapter 50 because, as several people have pointed out to me, Jo and Matt are boring and/or the story's lagging. I can't just end it in the middle of a plot though, which is why I'm no just calling it quits right now


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